The Key
by The-Lady-Isis
Summary: Someone's come back from the future to tell Seifer what he's always wanted to hear. He's the key to stopping the end of the world. Except the messenger causes problems. And our favourite ex-Instructor to confront what's been dormant inside her for years.
1. Save Him

DISCLAIMER: Don't own any of it. Square does. Pooey. _**  
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_**---**_

_**Somewhere in the not too distant future.**_

It was stillness and seeming tranquillity that bred fear into the few shattered remnants of Balamb Garden, cowering in Esthar. The explosions, the screams, the blood; those they'd gotten used to, could handle. If someone was shrieking in agony it was at least because they were living and in pain. Silence meant there was no-one alive to make any noise. Silence meant that the Sorceress was floating toward them on wings of death.

Quistis felt the beginnings of the old despair nagging at her senses. Every time she swore that it would be different from the last. And every time it was the same. Balamb had fallen. Timber. Winhill. Galbadia. Now the only scraps of humanity left were huddled together in Esthar and Centra. She had no idea how many millions had been wiped out. The charred and twisted corpses of the last few SeeD's lay scattered around her, the smoke hovering over them in a malignant cloud ready to gather their souls. Of the seven heroes, only she and Selphie were left alive. And she was dying. Quistis cursed, knowing that she had no way of stopping the bleeding; her friend would be dead within ten minutes. Selphie gave a smile that did not reach her now ancient eyes. True smiles were a thing of the past. "Go get Matron."

Edea was also alive, walled inside the Sorceress Memorial. For her own protection. If the plan was to have any hope of succeeding, Edea would be needed. Quistis shook her head anyway. "I'm not leaving you."

"Quisty, you have to. It can't-"

A coughing, retching sound came from their left, and Kiros emerged from the rubble. Laguna was lying stretched out a few feet away, a trickle of blood coming from his mouth, his neck broken. Quistis helped Kiros up. "Are you alright?"

The man nodded. "I am. Is no-one else…?"

Quistis shook her head solemnly. "No."

"I see." He gave a swift assessing look at Selphie's wound. "There is nothing to be done for her." Perhaps in a better time he would not have stated that so plainly, or at least not in front of the dying woman, but there was no time for subtlety anymore, no point in tact. Death did not leave room for politeness.

Selphie spoke again. "Quistis, go. I can slow her down."

"I can't leave you. You know what she'll do to you-"

"It won't make a difference if you're here or not. She'll just kill you as well. Go and stop it."

Quistis took a deep, shuddering breath, and nodded. No tears. They'd all been shed already, even by the time Zell was gone. He'd been the fourth, killed defending Ellone. She was the fifth. "Alright."

She kissed Selphie's forehead, and she and Kiros ran. Ran as fast as their screaming lungs and protesting muscles could carry them, dodging between corpses and rubble lying in what had once been tidy streets. By the time they arrived at the Sorceress Memorial, most of the firestorms had died down. She grabbed her weapon from its holster at her side; even in this moment, with death at her heels and all she knew about to come to an end, she could not hold back the wrench of sadness her heart gave. The weapon smashed through the glass prison holding Edea in suspended animation, and the older woman fell into Quistis's arms. Kiros remained at the entrance to act as a warning, though he could not hold back what was coming, he could at least be of some use.

"Matron! Matron, wake up!"

Edea stirred. "Quisty?"

"Yes, it's me."

Despite the fact that she'd only just come back to consciousness, there was no time to recover. "It's time."

Quistis nodded. "She's here. We need to use the spell."

"You know what you have to do when you get there."

Quistis swallowed and nodded. "Save him. Save Seifer."

There was a bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the streets, only vaguely recognisable as human it carried that much pain. It was Selphie, and she was being tortured. It stopped, only to begin once more a millisecond later. Kiros ran from the entrance. "She's coming."

As if on cue, the screams ceased, heralding Selphie's release into painless death. Quistis closed her eyes and said a tiny prayer for her sister's soul. _I'm the only one left now. _"When I've gone, get Matron out. Take her as far away as you can from-" her voice was lost as they all ducked from the explosion that rocked the building. Quistis turned with desperation in her blue eyes. "Please, Matron. Do it."

Edea nodded and placed her hands either side of Quistis's head, literally pouring all but a little of her power into the younger woman, along with the knowledge of how to use it. Kiros watched nervously, flinching every couple of seconds as more crashes from outside came. After no more than twenty seconds, Quistis opened her eyes once more. "It is done," she said softly.

"Good luck, my child," Edea murmured.

"Hyne protect you both," she answered. Closing her eyes, she gathered her newly loaned magic and focused on where – or when – she wanted to go. Crackling filled the air, and with no warning, Quistis disappeared in a burst of lightning that seemed to come from within herself. The last stray bolts flitted around the room, leaving Kiros and Edea staring at the spot where she'd just been.

Suddenly there was an almighty crash, louder than the others, coming from directly outside. Then the sound of footsteps. Knowing there was only one – _thing _– left alive out there, Edea grabbed Kiros's arm. "We must go."

He nodded anxiously. "I second that."

"Hold on." With the miniscule amount of power left in her, Edea initiated the transportation spell that would be their escape.

Just before they vanished in a haze of light, a figure appeared at the entrance. Upon seeing them about to leave, it let out a scream of rage. "No!"

_Hyne, why have you forsaken us? _Edea completed the spell, and they disappeared, leaving the lone figure to vent her rage on the room. The once pretty face was distorted in hate, Selphie's blood spattered on her face, deceptively dainty hands spread, powerful thrusts of magic battering the remnants of Esthar. "I'll find you! I'll rip you apart!" The hot rage passed, leaving behind cold steel. "The world will fall at my hand."

---

A/N: I realise I'm sounding whiny but pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaase review!


	2. Good Mood

DISCLAIMER: Can't remember if I already did one of these. But just in case, this is for the whole fic. I don't own anything! Square does :(

_**Present day.**_

Seifer was in a good mood. He had every reason to be – he'd been a SeeD for a year today. He smirked to himself and took another drag on his cigarette. He'd managed to rein in his normal personality for a day – just long enough to follow orders and pass his exam – but since then Squall had recognised the fact that Seifer worked best on missions where he worked alone, or with one person maximum. That said, he always completed his missions quickly and efficiently, and had been promoted six levels in the past twelve months. He was now a Rank A Mark IV SeeD, and it felt great. Not that he expected anyone except Raijin and Fujin to remember. Especially not the six heroes.

After the war, he'd been pardoned like Edea and Rinoa, accepted back at Garden a few weeks later. It didn't take long for him to graduate. Nothing had really changed; eventually he'd just faded into obscurity, become another SeeD. That was one thing he wasn't happy about. Seifer had never been one to fade into the background, and now he was just another face in the crowd, nothing distinguishable about him. True, it was nice not to be called 'lapdog' anymore, but he had no notoriety at all now. And he missed that. Oh well. Some things couldn't be helped.

Another reason for his good mood was the fact that he was currently spreading what had to be the worst -smelling swamp-mud all over Garden. Well, if Commander Puberty was going to send him on a mission to the most boggy regions of Centra, then he deserved to suffer the consequences. The mission itself had been fairly straightforward; there was an epidemic of monsters – one particular breed of them – infesting the swamps. His job was to battle their way through them, find the nest, destroy it, then clean up the remnants after. So it wasn't just the mud caked onto his boots, it was the monster guts all over his other clothes. He wasn't sure the blade of Hyperion would ever be clean again. But, he'd been in the mud for so long that he didn't even smell it any more, and his cigarettes were clean-ish, so he was happy.

"Seifer!"

He turned to see the posse making their way over to him. "Great to see ya back, ya know?" Raijin bellowed, then came to a skidding halt about ten feet away from Seifer, a disgusted look on his face when he hit the wall of stench.

Fujin, not expecting the sudden stop, collided with him. "IDIOT!"

Fujin had lost her sense of smell along with her eye, so she had no idea that, other than being a little muddy, there was anything wrong with Seifer. She grabbed Raijin's arm and dragged him forward. "Hey, Fu," Seifer greeted.

"SAFE?" she enquired.

He nodded. "A shower and I'll be good as new."

"GLAD," she smiled.

Raijin coughed, holding his hand over his mouth. "Maybe you should shower before your debriefing."

A wicked grin spread itself all over Seifer face, his green eyes sparkling impishly. "You know, I think the Commander will appreciate it more if I go now."

Fujin caught his meaning. "HAVE FUN. LATER."

She didn't need to drag Raijin this time; he was practically sprinting away from his friend. Seifer chuckled, shaking his head, then flicked the butt of his cigarette into a trash can and sauntered along to the elevator. When he got out, Xu was sat behind her desk, about twelve feet away. "You're supposed to be in your _uniform _to see the Commander, Almasy."

"I missed you too, Xu," he replied.

"Can it, Al-" The smell hit her. And sent her reeling backward, retching.

He raised an eyebrow. "Something the matter, Xu?"

She couldn't reply, so settled for sending him the dirtiest look she could muster, and then running toward the elevator. He couldn't hold back a laugh as she discovered the clump of monster gut he'd 'accidentally' left in there. He strolled over to a chair and flopped down into it, briefly considering lighting up again. Shouting from inside the office drew his attention before he could though.

He cocked his head to one side. Was that Quistis's voice yelling? He couldn't remember the last time he'd heard her shout, much less shout at Squall. He frowned, then listened more intently.

"…get over it?! You did it, Squall, ok? You got everything. You're the hero, you saved the world, you got the girl, you got a new job that's made you a very, very rich man. So why in the name of Hyne are you still so insecure when it comes to Seifer?!"

"Insecure? I'm not insecure, I just don't think that trusting the traitor-"

"Oh my Hyne, how many times are we going to go through this?! Cid's told you, Edea's told you, even Rinoa's told you, _none of it was Seifer's fault_! He was being manipulated by that witch! Is it going to take Hyne himself to come down and tell you?! There was a trial, Squall. He was cleared of all charges for fuck's sake!"

There was a loud slamming noise, and for some reason a picture of her flipping over Squall's desk popped into Seifer's head. He repressed a chuckle, still unable to believe what he was hearing; there was no way in hell _Trepe_ of all people was defending him. When she carried on, her voice was quieter, though still strained.

"You might not want to admit it, but you are wasting his potential. You cannot possibly run both the Balamb and Esthar SeeD's. You need help."

"Maybe I do," Squall shot back, "But I don't need it from Seifer! You can't honestly tell me that you think he's ready for that kind of responsibility!"

"Well until you give him any kind of responsibility you'll never know, will you?!"

Squall sighed explosively. "This is getting us nowhere."

"No, and we won't get anywhere until you get over yourself, _Commander_."

Seifer managed to get back over to the elevator and make it look like he'd just arrived before the door to Squall's office was wrenched open from the inside, and a fuming Quistis stormed out, almost slamming into him. He raised an eyebrow. "Everything alright, Instructor?"

"Urgh, don't ask. Squall's just being a-" She cut off, taking a step backward and wrinkling her nose. "Is that you?"

"Wha- Oh." He grinned. "Yep, just got back from Centra. It's quite swampy there."

She looked down at his boots, busy trampling foul smelling mud all over the lobby, then looked back at him, a playful gleam in her cobalt eyes. "Do me a favour?"

He frowned in question. "What?"

"When you put your feet up on the desk, if you could aim for the pile of urgent documents on the right hand side, that would be good."

"Petty revenge, Instructor? I thought you were above that."

"Almasy get in here!" Squall yelled from inside his office.

Seifer looked back at Quistis. "I'll do my best."

She grinned and kissed his cheek before either of them thought anything of it. "Thank you."

He winked, then sauntered into Squall's office. "What's up, Pube Boy?"

Upon hearing his words, Quistis waited outside the door for a few seconds, until… "Damn it, Seifer, those were _important_!"

She grinned, then walked into the elevator. Just as the door closed, though, a thought struck her. _I wonder why I kissed him?_

_---_

A/N: I kno it's not very long, but it just seemed like the right place to stop there. Chappie 3 is on the way tho! Review please. & thank u very much 2 the people who already have, uv dun a lot to ease my nervousness x x x


	3. Who Said I Wanted A Promotion!

**Chapter Three**

It was Quistis's favourite time of year; graduation. Well, it wasn't actually her favourite time yet – it was her worst. The exams. She knew that since getting her licence back, her teaching had somewhat improved – helped by the fact that so far she hadn't had to teach any more Seifer Almasy's. Although Hyne help her if there was more than one out there. She knew that 99 of her students would pass the written exam. But once they were out in the field, they were on their own. People died on their SeeD exams. Still, Squall had put her in charge of the practical exams, so she could at least keep some of them alive by deciding on the place of the exam and supervisors for the squads.

She was on her way now to ask some of the only SeeD's she trusted to supervise too. Namely; Selphie, Zell, Irvine and Xu. Squall was obviously out of the question, and Selphie would be there as an Instructor herself anyway. Once they'd all agreed, Quistis found herself thinking of one other person that could be trusted absolutely to keep her students alive. If he agreed, that was. She was reasonably confident that he would; since Seifer had come back to Garden, relations between him and the rest of them had improved slowly and steadily. Except where Squall was concerned; he still fiercely maintained that Seifer was bad news. Quistis had completely lost patience with his attitude very quickly, as demonstrated by her yelling at him earlier today. Squall was busy resisting giving Seifer a – in Quistis's opinion richly deserved – promotion. Despite the fact that there simply were no other better qualified candidates.

But never mind that now. Thinking about it would only get her worked all over again. She liked and cared about Seifer a lot more than she'd ever admit. Especially to him. Or to herself. She walked quickly to his dorm, then knocked on the door briskly.

He opened it a few seconds later, obviously just out of the shower, since he was dressed only in a towel wrapped around his waist, moisture shimmering over his toned-to-god-like-perfection physique. She bit her lip for a second, overwhelmingly tempted to collect those water droplets on her fingertips, or simply use her-_Whoa! Get the mind _out _of the gutter, Quistis! _

Seifer thankfully hadn't noticed the direction of her lustful gaze, and just looked at her. "What brings you here, Instructor?"

She cleared her throat, looking everywhere except where her loins were begging her to look. "Um, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour."

"Sure, if you planning on meeting my eyes at any point during this conversation," he remarked.

"Well if you wearing more clothes, then maybe I wouldn't-"

"I didn't realise you found my body that distracting, Quistis." She still wasn't looking at him, but she could _feel _the smirk on his face.

"Just go and dress, Seifer!" she snapped.

He raised an eyebrow, but went into the room, leaving the door ajar. She walked inside while Seifer collected his clothes and went into the bathroom to change. While she was waiting, Quistis looked distastefully around the messy room. She silently debated with herself for about twenty seconds, before her anally tidy self kicked in and she started making the bed. She'd moved onto folding his clothes by the time an amused voice spoke. "I have some shirts that need ironing if you fancy something really exciting."

"Well if you weren't such a pig, this place wouldn't need tidying, would it?" she replied crisply.

"Tip: insulting me isn't the best way to get on my good side."

"Do you have one?" she asked playfully.

"What did you want to ask me?" he said, face serious.

"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind being a supervisor for one of the squads in the exam tomorrow? I really don't want any of my students dying through their own incompetence."

"So you want me to protect them?"

"I know it seems lame, but-"

"No, I'll do it."

She looked up. "Really?"

He shrugged. "Sure. I'd just get bored around here anyway."

She smiled. "Thanks. Um, six hundred hours tomorrow morning in the-"

"-Docking Bay, I remember the drill, Instructor," he said, nodding. "Where are we going?"

"Ah, that would be telling. Don't worry, you won't be in any serious danger."

"That could spoil my pretty face," he smirked.

"Mmm. Because Hyne knows you haven't got anything else going for you," she said, walking out of the door.

---

The exam went as well as Quistis could have hoped; none of her students died, though quite a few had some superficial injuries and quite a few more had the shell-shocked look of a person who'd just made their first kill. Quistis remembered that look vividly, along with the guilt and the confusion and the edge of panic that went along with it.

They'd come in the Ragnorok, so on the way back to Garden, Quistis healed the ones she could and gave what comfort she could muster before heading to the cockpit. She was exhausted herself, and had killed more people than she cared to count today. It never got any easier, and she'd never been much good at being the agony aunt figure. For that she needed-

"Selphie?" she asked as she got into the cockpit. "Do you think you could go make sure Suzanna Bacci is ok? She looked really distressed and I'm not the one to help her, I'm afraid. I'll take over here."

The younger girl nodded. "Sure, Quisty."

Quistis eased herself behind the controls with a relieved sigh. Flying always helped to relax her. After a few minutes, the door slid open again behind her. "How is she?" she asked without turning around.

Seifer sat down in the co-pilot's seat. "How's who?"

"Oh, thought you were Selphie," she said.

"No need to sound so disappointed."

She smiled. "Thank you for your help today, by the way. I really appreciate it. Did you have any problems?"

He shrugged. "Only one girl who got so nervous she couldn't tell which end of her pistol was which, but we got there in the end."

Quistis sighed after a while. "They're all so young."

"You do realise you're only twenty, right?"

"I know, but sometimes I don't feel it. Hyne, when did we all get so...middle-aged?"

"Speak for yourself."

"No, but I mean...look at us. I'm talking like some seventy year old grandmother, Selphie's downstairs playing agony aunt, Squall's always buried in paperwork...What happened to having fun?"

"When have you ever had fun?" he asked, only half-joking.

She thought about it for a moment, then gave a bitter laugh."I don't think I have since we were kids."

They fell silent for a while, till Seifer's mind returned with curiosity to one particular subject. "Hey, what were you yelling at Squall for yesterday?"

She blushed. "You heard that, huh?"

"Most of Garden heard that."

She cleared her throat. "Well, you know that E-Garden's opening next month? Well Squall seems to think that he can run the SeeD's of both Gardens without needing any help. So Cid suggested that maybe he appoint someone else as Commander in Esthar and retain command of Balamb. Squall declined. So then the only alternative was that there be two Commanders, both with equal responsibility in the two Gardens." She shrugged. "And Squall wasn't happy with the name that I suggested."

"_You _suggested me?" he asked, totally surprised.

"How much did you hear?" she asked quickly.

"Enough. Hell, Trepe, I thought you were just defending me, didn't realise you actually _suggested _me." For some reason that really pissed him off. He didn't need a nanny for Hyne's sake.

"If you don't want it then I'll withdraw my nomination and we can pretend it never happened."

"I don't think you had the right to nominate me in the first place," he answered heatedly.

"Well I just thought that-"

"That what, I wasn't happy where I was? Why is it up to you to decide that?"

"It's not, I just-"

"That's really why you wanted me to come today, isn't it? So you could talk me into it!"

"No, Seifer, I didn't-"

"Who the hell do you think you are anyway, putting me forward without even asking if I'd be ok with it-"

"Will you let me get a word in edgeways?! First of all, maybe I shouldn't have put you forward without telling you, but the fact is you're wasted just being an ordinary SeeD, and you know it! You've got way too much potential to just be stuck doing missions for the rest of your life, and it was being squandered."

"Oh, I see what this is about. You're not my instructor anymore, Quistis, it's not up to you to stick your nose in where it's not wanted!"

"I was only trying to help!"

"Well I don't remember asking for your help!"

"Then stay a failure your whole life, see if I care!"

"Why don't you just nominate Chickenwuss and leave me the hell alone, Instructor?!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"_Fine_!"

The cockpit door opened again, and Selphie stepped in. "Uh, guys?"

"WHAT?!" they both snapped.

She flinched. "I was just going to say that we kinda already flew past Garden."

"Shit!" Quistis cursed, banking the ship.

Seifer muttered something about women drivers. "Shut the fuck up, Almasy!" she snapped. "You were just-"

"Uh, guys?"

"_WHAT_?!"

"The intercom is on. All the students below deck can hear you."

"Seifer, you've got your feet on the button you idiotic son of a bitch!"

"Oh, this coming from the woman who's just flown past Garden _again_!"

"That's it! Get the hell out of my cockpit! Right now!"

"I wasn't aware it belonged to you, Instructor."

Quistis let out a roar of frustration, and turned the ship 180 degrees sharply, making Selphie stumble across the cockpit and Seifer slump to the left, banging his head on a metal spoke as he did. "Ow! Watch it, woman!"

"Yeah, well you should be wearing a seatbelt!" she retorted, righting the ship so that everything went careering back the other way. Seifer's head went from the hard steel bar to Quistis's lap in the fraction of a second.

They both froze, the argument forgotten in a fraction of a second in the few seconds of intense awkwardness that followed. Selphie tried extremely hard not to burst out laughing when they both flushed the exact same shade of maroon. Seifer pulled his head back, clearing his throat, and looking very determinedly out of the window. Quistis concentrated on getting the smoothest possible landing and very definitely _not _about what had just happened. Except for the fact that her whole body was trembling, as were her hands on the controls. The Ragnorok landed with a crash that again made Selphie stumble, even though the face-splitting grin never left her face. Once the engines were off, no-one seemed to want to move or speak, or draw attention to themselves in any way. Selphie tried to suppress the urge to giggle madly.

"I'll, uh, get the cadets disembarked, shall I?"

Quistis slipped out of her seat after what was possibly the most embarrassing silence she'd ever endured. "Um, I guess I'll see you at the ball then," she said in a rush, her voice ridiculously high-pitched.

He nodded, still not looking at her. "Yep." Once he'd heard the doors close, he groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Oh Hyne, no."

---

Quistis was not at all happy with herself. All but a handful of her students had passed; all but a handful were now SeeD's. She was in her dorm, getting ready for the graduation ball, and all she could think about was a certain tall, green-eyed blonde.

And how insufferable he was. For Hyne's sake, who blew up at someone like that? Especially when that someone was _trying _to do him a favour! She hadn't bothered going to Squall and withdrawing the candidacy – it wasn't as though Squall would ever in a million years give it to Seifer anyway, so she didn't see the point. Nor did she feel like doing anything nice for Seifer ever again. She was just going to ignore him completely tonight. No contact whatsoever. _Not even going to look at him_, she insisted firmly to herself. After what had happened in the cockpit, she wasn't sure she could even if she wanted to.

She put the finishing touches to her hair, then opened her wardrobe for her dress. Selphie and Rinoa – insisting that she needed a formal dress at some point and that she couldn't attend every occasion in her SeeD uniform – had bought it for her as a birthday gift. Quistis had to admit, it was a beautiful gown. A long skirt that swept to the floor, with a well-cut bodice that emphasised her curves in all the right places. It was a deep forest emerald green. She put it on, something about it bothering her. It wasn't until she stood in front of the mirror she worked it out. It was the exact shade of Seifer's eyes.

"Hyne dammit!" she swore, pacing up and down. "I am _not _going to start thinking about what colour his eyes are! I am _not_! Not, not, not, not, not, not,_NOT_!" She stopped and took a deep breath. "They just...happen to be green. Just like mine happen to be blue." _I wonder if he notices what colour my eyes are? _

There was a knock at the door before she could clamp down on that particular train of thought, so all she could think about was whether _he _might be standing on the other side. Her heartbeat increased, blood pounding in her ears, her breathing coming a little faster as she remembered with a wave of arousal just how frigging _hot _he was when he wasn't wearing anything but a towel, how-

"Quisty!"

She let out her breath. Selphie. _No need to get excited. _"What the hell are you thinking, Quistis?!" she demanded of herself, before crossing to unlock the door. "Hey Selphie."

"Wow, you look gorgeous, Quisty! Like a princess!"

She smiled. "Thank you, though I'm sure that's not true. You look er, wonderful yourself."

Selphie was wearing a champagne coloured slip dress that went down to the floor and made her look like she was drowning in gold. "Thanks! You ready?"

"Almost, just got to put my shoes on. Come in, come in."

"Cool, Irvy said he'd meet me here so he could 'escort' us both to the ball."

_Great, _thought Quistis. It wasn't that she didn't like Irvine, of course she did – he was her brother after all, or close enough. But the man was a terrible flirt. And then there was the fact that it wasn't Irvine she wanted to escort her, it was-

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

Ten minutes later, after Cid had announced the new SeeD's and the music started, Quistis was sat at one of the tables, tapping her foot to the music. Selphie had dragged Irvine up to the dancefloor, and was busy twirling him around like a showdog. She was bored though, and a little uneasy; there were several Trepies standing in a corner and shooting her covert glances. She had a horrible feeling that they were working out who would be brave enough to ask her for a dance. She sighed, flicking her gaze over to the door.

In time to see a vision of perfection walk through it. She'd only ever seen Seifer in his uniform once, and she'd forgotten just how good he looked in it. She couldn't hold back a smile at just how awkward he looked in it though; she had to admit that the scratchy fabric wasn't the most comfortable thing she'd ever worn. He spotted her and nodded, heading toward the bar. Once he was out of her line of vision, however, she remembered exactly what had happened earlier, and a slow blush began to creep up her cheeks.

She flinched as he sat in the seat next to her. "Jumpy, aren't we tonight, Instructor?"

She rolled her eyes. "Seifer."

He leaned over and placed a glass of champagne in front of her. "Have a drink."

"Who says I want one?"

He sighed. "Quistis..."

She sighed in return. She really didn't have the energy to fight with him. "Thank you."

"By the way...I changed my mind about that promotion thing," he said after a while, still looking at all the couples dancing. "So if you wanted to put my name back in...I guess that wouldn't be so bad."

The music stopped, and Cid stood up to speak. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to join me in congratulating our new SeeD's." He paused while everyone applauded. "And, I have another announcement to make. As most of you will know, next month is the grand opening of Esthar Garden. Despite Commander Leonhart's extensive..."

Quistis smiled, leaning over to whisper in his ear. "I'm glad you said that."

He frowned. "Why?"

Her smile got a little broader. "Because I didn't withdraw it."

He opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment, Cid's voice penetrated his brain again. "...and as such, allow me to present the new Co-Commander of SeeD, Seifer Almasy."

There was a silence that lasted about two seconds. Then the applause began to break out like small fires all across the room, and then everyone with the exception of Squall was applauding. He turned to growl at Quistis, only to find she'd vanished without trace. He blinked, unsettled by how quickly she'd gone, before returning his attention with some trepidation to Cid, who was now calling for a speech.

---

Quistis hadn't gone far – just to the balcony outside, suddenly feeling overwhelmingly aware of how close he'd actually been. "I am not attracted to him," she said firmly. "I am not."

"First sign of madness, talking to yourself, Instructor."

She didn't turn, still looking out at the moonlight sparkling on the ocean waves.

"You disappeared," he said quietly.

"I did, didn't I?" she replied equally softly.

He walked to her and handed her a glass. "And you forgot your champagne."

"Thank you." She took it from him and smiled, holding her glass up. "To the new Commander."

"To the next batch of SeeD's."

"I'll drink to that," she said, clinking her glass against his. They both sipped quietly for a while, Quistis's brow furrowed in thought as she tried to come up with other, non-Seifer related reasons why her heart was beating so fast._Too much champagne, _she decided. _Far too much. I should stop. _She took another sip.

"Quistis?" he asked suddenly.

"Mmm?"

"What made you nominate me?"

"I'd rather not tell you that," she replied.

"But I'm serious. For that matter, why do you – any of you – trust me not to fuck this up? Haven't got the best track record."

"The way I see it, everyone is allowed one mistake. Granted, yours was…" She inhaled, searching for the right word, "…_spectacular_, but it's in the past. It's done, and as far as I'm concerned, you've been given a second chance." He blinked at the sincerity in her voice. She smiled slightly. "I _will_however kick your ass if you get big headed about this. Though if that happens your entire skull is likely to explode."

"You still didn't tell me why you nominated me," he pointed out. "Come on, don't make me beg."

"Would you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No."

She laughed. "Promise you won't interrupt?" He nodded, and she took a deep breath. "Well for starters you were heading that way anyway. I mean you've been promoted six times in the past year alone. Plus...Squall's not the make-rash-decisions kind of Commander. And if we're in another war then we'll need someone who can make snap decisions. And let's face it, you're not a team player, Seifer. You work best if you're _leading_the team. This gives you an opportunity to do that. And lastly, it was the only way I could see of you and Squall ever putting an end to the childish rivalry thing you've got going."

Seifer couldn't hold back a snort. "Like that's ever going to happen."

"No, I mean it. This way, you'll either have to cooperate because you have no choice, or one of you really will kill the other one. End of rivalry either way."

He thought about it for a while. "Huh. You know you may have a point there, Trepe."

She nodded. "That's why I nominated you. You're not the same arrogant child you were two years ago, Seifer."

"And you're not the same stuffy ice queen," he returned.

She elbowed him gently. "Watch it, I could always change my mind."

"I think you'll find I'm your superior now, Instructor. And I intend to take full advantage of that fact."

"Now why does that make me immediately think that soon I'm going to be suing your ass for sexual harassment?"

---

Inside the ballroom, Selphie was watching the pair on the balcony very carefully with the eyes of a hawk. A hawk with matchmaking plans.

Irvine slung an arm around her shoulders. "Selph, darlin', come dance."

"Not now, Irvy, look!"

"At what?" he asked, confused.

"Them!" She pointed out the two figures, still standing close to each other and talking softly. "I think they might do something!"

"Seifer? And Quistis? I don't know, Sefie."

"Yeah well you didn't see the moment they had on the Ragnorok today. They both got all embarrassed, it was sooooo cute!"

"Yeah, well, I'll believe it when I see it."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Then keep watching!"

---

"Now Quistis, would I do something like that to you?" Seifer asked huskily, his face somehow only inches away from hers, jade eyes flitting between her sapphire eyes and her full lips.

"Yes," she replied in a whisper. Without her consent, her mouth began to creep forward to his, now only millimetres away. "That sounds exactly...like something...you'd..."

"Instructor Trepe!"

Both Seifer and Quistis jumped at the sound, then jerked away from the other as if they'd been burned. Unaware of what she'd just interrupted, or that various murderous scenarios were now running through Seifer's mind, the new SeeD stepped out onto the balcony.

Quistis took in a quick breath, instantly unruffled again. "Yes, Suzanna, how can I help you?"

"I just wanted to say thank you so much for helping me make SeeD. I know I couldn't have done it without you."

"It's really no problem. It's my job, after all."

The girl smiled, then turned to Seifer. "And congratulations on your promotion, sir." She gave a salute, which he acknowledged with a nod, then turned back into the ball room.

Quistis immediately began walking after her. "It's late, I think I'll turn in. Goodnight."

She walked away before he had time for anything more complicated than a 'but'. With a growl of frustration, he kicked the perfectly innocent wall, achieving absolutely nothing bar pain lancing through his foot. He didn't _want_this, for Hyne's sake.

Except for the small fact that he wanted it, at the moment, more than anything.

A/N: I know, I know, you're thinking "Where the hell's future Quistis to ruin all the fun?!" Well, she's coming. Soon. Honest. But in the meantime u could review if you wanted :P


	4. Paradox

**Chapter Four**

There was nothing to suggest that the following morning would be anything but ordinary. Despite the fact that she went to bed still blushing, Quistis slept soundly all night. If she'd known what was coming, she would not have found rest.

The next day dawned bright and clear, promising to become one of those late summer days that Quistis revelled in. It was hot and sticky and uncomfortable, but she held on to it for as long as she could anyway, because in a few weeks the winter would set in. Unfortunately, she couldn't go outside and enjoy it, because she had classes all day. She showered and dressed, then made her way to class, casting one last longing look at the sun outside before moving walking into the room. She sat at her desk, looking over the new register of students. The exams were over, so the next lot of cadets would be coming in any time now. She pulled open a drawer, slid her glasses on and went down the list. The students were all aged between sixteen and seventeen. She didn't recognise many of the names, but for some reason she felt like she'd have to watch one of the boys – a guy called Sam Alexander. It took her a few seconds to work out why, and then she laughed at herself.

"Come on, Quistis, not every person whose initials are S.A. is going to be trouble. There can't be two of them in the world." _Gaia wouldn't survive. _

A few moments later, her class was full of chattering students. She stood up and cleared her throat. "Good Morning, everyone, and welcome to your final year. I am Instructor Trepe, and I'll be teaching you from now on. I warn you now, I expect the highest degree of discipline in my class, and if you're not 100 committed to being here, you can leave now. If you stay here, I expect you to work hard, and I expect all of you to pass. As I'm sure you're aware, in six months time, you will all be taking your exams to become SeeD's. If you study and train hard enough, there is no reason why she should not all pass. If there are any problems of any kind, I am always here for you to talk to. Now, before we launch into the curriculum, are there any questions?"

There was a pause and a timid looking girl put up her hand. "Instructor Trepe?"

"Yes? What is your name?"

"Naya Thomas, Instructor."

Quistis smiled. "Naya. What was your question?"

"Um, is it true that you became a SeeD when you were only fifteen?" she asked, her tone worshipful.

Quistis sighed. Just what she needed. Another Trepie. "Yes, it is." She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the sound of several muffled gasps. "Anyone else?"

"I have one," a teenage guy said. "I'm Sam Alexander."

Quistis inwardly smiled. "Yes, Mr Alexander?"

"Should we bring our weapons to class? I noticed that you carry yours."

"Very observant, yes I do. However, it is against Garden regulations for cadets to carry weapons unless you are intending to use them _exclusively _in the training centre." She smiled. "And despite the example that our two Commanders have set, injuring your training partner is also frowned upon."

Giggles broke out at that, and Quistis sobered. "Any more questions?"

There were none, so she went on with the lesson, handing a stack of textbooks to a boy at the front of the class. "Hand these around please. Right, when you get your textbook, turn to page 31 and read quietly for a few moments."

By the time her last class of the day had disappeared through the door, the sun outside was gone, replaced by enormous thunder clouds that filled the air with static charge and threatened a storm of huge proportions. Quistis sighed as she gathered her things, flicking the light switch with her elbow. Just her luck to miss the sunshine. _Oh well._ She gave a small smile of satisfaction as she walked. She'd gone a whole day without thinking about Seifer once. Except just then. _Bugger._

Selphie whistled as she left her own class a few moments earlier than Quistis, quickly checking to see if her friend was done. Seeing she wasn't, Selphie decided to go to the cafeteria and grab a soda before heading to the training centre. She was crossing the quad as the storm broke with a roll of thunder. She barely managed to suppress a flinch; Selphie really didn't like thunderstorms.

Something that was not alleviated when a bolt of lightning struck the ground mere feet from where she was standing. Along with the other people around, Selphie let out an ear-splitting shriek and jumped about ten feet into the air. Quite an achievement for such a small person. Her inner-Instructor took over, and she yelled at the cadets to take cover inside. Three more bolts struck as the quad was being evacuated. Once the last student was safe, Selphie prepared to follow them, just as one more, colossal burst of blue-white electricity shot down, forcing her to throw her forearm up to shield her eyes. Accompanying it was the loudest crash of thunder yet, so loud that it left Selphie temporarily deaf except for the ringing in her eyes.

Yet as swiftly as it had come, the storm passed. Garden was basking in sunlight once more, and as she glanced nervously up at the sky, there was no evidence that the thunder and lightning had been there at all. Apart from the smoking remains of several trees around the quad. Them and the shape of a woman lying sprawled out on the ground.

Selphie stared for a few seconds, then decided she should investigate and see if the woman was ok. The closer she got, however, the more her astonishment grew. The unconscious woman's shape was rather familiar, as was her blonde hair. She was lying face down, so Selphie couldn't really tell. "Hello? Can you hear me?" she asked as she got closer to the prone figure.

No response.

Selphie's frown got deeper as she reached out hesitantly to turn the woman over. As her face became visible, Selphie let out a gasp. "Quisty!"

At the sound of her voice, the lookalike Quistis stirred. "Selphie?" she muttered confusedly.

Selphie nodded. "It's me. Hyne Quisty, what happened to you?"

Without warning, she shot up and wrapped Selphie in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh thank Hyne you're alive!"

"I was the last time I checked," the girl replied nervously. "Quistis, what's going on?"

Just then, something happened. A voice called Selphie's name. A very familiar voice. She turned, letting go of Quistis, to see…Quistis?! She backed away from both of them. "Ok, I'm losing my mind…" she whimpered. Except it wasn't like she was seeing double; the two women in front of her were definitely both Quistis, but with serious differences. One was dressed in her Instructor's uniform, neat and pressed like always, steel-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, hair swept tidily back. She had her Save the Queen in her hand.

Selphie's brain accepted that image quickly; it was what she was used to and she could handle that. Not so the other woman. She was the same height and build as Quistis, her eyes and hair were the same colour. But that's where the similarities stopped. Her clothes were different; a white tank top with loose black combat pants. She wore a black mesh top over the vest, the sleeves covering up to the base of her fingers. Black high heeled boots completed the outfit. She lacked the long fall of golden hair that her counterpart had: it was only shoulder-length, and pulled up into a tight ponytail, her fringe covering one eye. There was a long scar stretching down one cheek. But she looked so much older; she quite clearly was older, but worse than that – it was in her eyes. The blue orbs held a depth of pain that Selphie couldn't even begin to comprehend; without needing to ask, she knew that this woman had been through something terrible, something that had marked her soul irrevocably. And she didn't have a whip, she had what appeared to be a sword at her side.

She looked exhausted, almost dead on her feet. "I can…explain…" She swallowed, but still looked as though she was about to faint.

"Hey, what's going on?" a voice asked. All three women turned to see Seifer coming toward them. "Some kids said that lightning just-" He broke off to stare. The new Quistis let out a strangled sob that focused everyone's attention back on her. She didn't seem to notice, her blue eyes swimming with tears and fixed on the tall blond. Seifer looked nervously at Selphie. "Uh, are you seeing two of them as well?"

She nodded. "Yep. I really-"

She cut off as the new Quistis stumbled forward to stretch out a trembling hand to Seifer. It didn't occur to him to stop her, or to say anything. Something in the way her eyes were roving all over his face, only to meet his gaze once more with a wild desperation in them that he'd never seen before kept him silent. Her fingertips grazed his cheek so tenderly it was almost as though she was afraid of breaking him. Another sob forced its way out, and then she fainted.

The reflexes of a SeeD kicked in before she hit the floor, and Seifer caught her, then swept her into his arms. He raised his eyebrows as he looked at her sleeping face, then back at the dumbfounded Quistis still standing. "Ok…so, um…You have a twin, Quistis?"

She shook her head numbly. "No. I think…I think she might be…_me_." She took a step forward, reaching out to touch her apparent clone's hair.

"Quisty, no don't!" Selphie exclaimed. "If she really is you then there's now two of you in the same time and if you touch her that's a paradox and it'll open up a rift in the space time continuum and the whole of Garden will get sucked into it and it'll be really really bad!"

Seifer and Quistis just stared at her, looked at each other, looked at the clone, looked at each other again, then back at Selphie. "Huh?"

Selphie shook her head. "Never mind, I'll explain later, but we need to get her to the Infirmary. And Quisty, whatever you do, don't touch her!"

Seifer shrugged and shifted his grip on the woman in his arms slightly. "Lead the way, Selphie."

"I think I should go and find Squall," Quistis said. "He should know if we're going to get invaded by...ourselves."

Selphie nodded. "Ok. We'll be in the Infirmary when you're done."

Quistis nodded, and headed in the direction of the Commander's office. Selphie and Seifer made their way quickly to the the Infirmary. "Is she ok you think?" Selphie asked.

He shrugged. "She's breathing fine, but I know what you mean. She really didn't look alright, did she?"

"No." Selphie was uncharacteristically for a few moments. "What if it's not-"

"It is her," Seifer said. For some reason he didn't even have a doubt that the sleeping woman in his arms was Quistis. He sighed. "I guess we'll just have to wait till she wakes up."

Selphie nodded. "I kinda think maybe you shouldn't be around when she does though. I mean you saw how she reacted seeing you. Unless you want her fainting all over again."

He frowned. "I wonder why she did...I mean she was fine with you and Quistis. So faint when I came along?"

Selphie giggled. "Maybe you're bald in the future. Seeing you with hair might have been a shock. You are going a bit thin at the back there."

He sent her a dangerous glare. "Quiet, Instructor Tilmitt."

She laughed again. "Is that an order, Commander?"

"Yes. Now shut up and open the door for me." He looked worriedly down at the woman again. "Not the way I imagined having Trepe in my arms," he muttered.

"What was that, Seifer?" Selphie asked, quick as a flash, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Nothing..." Once the doors were opened, he stalked for them. "Selphie find the doctor, I'll find an empty room." Finding Exam 3 empty, he went to lay Quistis on the bed. As he did so, he caught his fingers on the blade of her weapon, slicing shallow cuts on his index and middle fingers. He drew in a pain-filled hiss and snatched them back. "Ow! What the fuck?!"

The door opened again behind him, and Selphie came in. "Right, I found Dr. Kadowaki, and she's-" She stopped, noticing Seifer sucking on his bleeding fingers. "What did you do?"

"Cut my hand on her weapon. Actually-" The door opened again, and the doctor came inside.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed. "That really is Quistis!"

"Told ya," Selphie said.

Dr Kadowaki recovered, then rolled up her sleeves. "Right, Instructor Tilmitt, can you change her into a gown, and Commander if you could go outside to get me an bag of saline from the cabinet outside, oh, and take this...with you," she said, holding out the bladed weapon.

He snorted "You keep that thing away from me, I've already cut my fingers-" His mouth fell open, as did Selphie's at seeing the weapon properly for the first time. He snatched it from the doctor quickly. "That's mine!"

"Um...Seifer, yours is on your belt," Selphie pointed out.

He looked down. Sure enough, Hyperion was hanging from his waist, where it had always been. "But...but..." He took another careful look at the gunblade in his hands. It was exactly the same – the wickedly sharp, long thin blade, the black metal handle. Any doubt he might have had was erased by the slim firecross engraved just below the hilt. Definitely Hyperion. He looked up, totally bewildered, at the unconscious form of Quistis. "But why would she have it?"

Selphie shook her head. "Don't know, but maybe you should give it to me."

"Why?"

"The same reason the two Quistis's can't touch each other. It might create a paradox if the two gunblades touch. Not sure how it wouls work with objects, but it would still be exactly the same, which is mathematically impossible."

He raised his eyebrows. "See, again, I got none of that."

Selphie huffed. "Really Seifer, it's quite simple-"

"Ah ah ah! I already have a headache. Don't need you to add to it." He handed over the weapon to her somewhat reluctantly and walked to the door. He stopped at it, turning back to look at Quistis. He wasn't aware of the worried frown on his face. Selphie was, and after he'd gone, she turned to get a gown for Quistis with a grin on her face. _I knew it. _

Within ten second of undressing the unconscious future-Quistis, or whoever she was, the smile was long gone, replaced by a troubled frown. "Oh my Hyne, Quisty," she murmured. "What happened to you?"

Her ordinarily flawless porcelain skin was criss-crossed with scars running all over her body – thin purple lines on her limbs and one enormous mass of scar tissue on her lower abdomen that looked to Selphie like it belonged to a massive blunt trauma injury. "Doctor? What do you think caused this?"

"Oh my- Roll her over, would you, Selphie?"

They did, and both women gasped. There was an identical mark on her back. Whatever it was had gone clean through her body and out the other side. "That must have gone straight through her pelvis!" Dr Kadowaki exclaimed. "Through the skin, probably through the muscle and even the uterus. I've hardly ever seen a wound this severe!"

"Well whatever happened, she obviously survived it," Selphie pointed out.

"That's true." The doctor made a quick assessment for any other wounds, finding a couple of scratches that were fresh, then told Selphie to put an Infirmary gown on Quistis. She did, just in time for Squall, closely followed by Quistis, come into the tiny room. "Ah, Commander, Instructor," the doctor said. "I'm afraid-"

"How is she?" Quistis interrupted.

"Still unconscious, almost severely dehydrated, and she's very cold. I'll know more when I've taken some blood and done a tox-screen, but at the moment it's simply guesswork I'm afraid," Dr Kadowaki replied, filling a vial of blood. "I want to get a DNA sample as soon as I can though. The resemblance to you is...remarkable, to say the very least-"

"It's not resemblance," came a voice. They all turned to see Seifer come back into the room. "It's not just a resemblance. That is you, Quistis."

"How do you know?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Just do."

Squall lifted an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the weapon leaning against the wall. "Seifer, do you think you could put that someplace else? An Infirmary room isn't the best place for it."

"For your information, Puberty Boy, that's not mine," Seifer sneered. He nodded at the unconscious woman. "She had it."

"What?!" Quistis exclaimed. "But I use a whip, I don't use a gunblade. Much less _that _gunblade."

"What's wrong with Hyperion?" Seifer shot back.

"Did I say there was anything wrong with it?!"

"You didn't have to! It was quite clear that you-"

"Instructor, Commander, would you calm down!" Dr Kadowaki's stern tones stopped them both in their tracks. It was hard not to shut up when she told them to- she'd been a figure of authority since they'd both joined Garden at the age of ten. "Now, this room is getting rather crowed, so if you wouldn't mind waiting outside until I've done the bloodwork."

They all trooped outside. Selphie left to take the blood to the laboratory on Garden's third floor. "You know, they should really keep all the medical stuff on the same floor," she complained before stomping off.

Squall, Seifer and Quistis were left in silence. "So...slower this time, Quistis, what actually happened?"

"I told you everything I know, Squall. There was a storm, several lightning bolts hit the quad, and apparently another me was left behind. She was conscious but seemed exhausted, and when Seifer arrived, she fainted. That's it."

He frowned. "And she didn't say anything?"

"Just that she could 'explain', whatever that means."

Squall nodded and opened his mouth to ask more, but the tanoy interrupted. _"Commander to the Commanders office. Commander to the Commanders office." _

Squall looked at Seifer. "You or me?"

"It's probably about that paperwork, so I'd have to say you, Pubes."

Squall rolled his eyes but left anyway. Quistis groaned and sat down in one of the uncomfortable plastic seats, rubbing her temples. "When are you going to start calling him by his name?"

"Well, if today is Tuesday, then...when hell freezes over, I guess."

She sighed and began fidgeting. He frowned. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What?"

"You're fidgeting. You don't fidget. You sit straighter than most people could manage without snapping their spines, and perfectly still for hours on end, waiting for the right time to strike."

"What am I, a snake?"

"You said it, not me."

"Shut up, Seifer."

"Is that it? I've finally worn you down to a 'shut up'? Wow, I should get a medal for that."

She stood up and began walking to the exit. He grabbed her hand as she strode past him. "Don't go."

"Is that an order?" she spat.

"No. It's a request. I'll behave, I promise."

She sighed and shut down next to him. "Are you as freaked out as I am over all this?"

"Yep. Having two Quistis Trepe's in one time is too much for anybody."

"Damn it, Seifer! Why do you persist in winding me up all the time?"

"The same reason you rise to the bait all the time. Come on, Trepe, you can't pretend you don't get a buzz off it."

"I really don't have to pretend anything," she snapped.

They lapsed into strained silence for a while. "Apples," he finally said.

"Huh?"

"That's how I knew she was really you. Same smell."

She looked at him. "I smell like apples?"

He nodded. "A little bit sure. More like apple blossom, actually."

"Oh." Another silence, somehow a lot more awkward than the last. Finally she plucked up her courage. "Seifer, I-"

The doors to the Infirmary opened again, and Selphie came back in, bearing a tiny palm computer triumphantly. "I've got the results!"

"What do they say?"

"Well...I'm not sure, because...I'm not a doctor, but hopefully Dr Kadowaki will be able to make sense of all these numbers," she said, screwing her eyes up and peering at the letters and numbers as if they'd make more sense now.

"Give it here," Seifer said, snatching it off her. He studied it intently for a few moments. "There's a lot of magic in her blood- almost too much." He frowned. "This isn't right. For someone who-" He looked up to see Quistis and Selphie goggling at him. "What?"

"Since when could you read med-forms?" Quistis asked.

"Since I took a semester long course in field medicine just after I failed my SeeD exam the first time around. I'm still capable of doing _something _useful."

"Ok, so what else does it say?"

"Not much really...her DNA is the same as yours, Quistis. So...unless she's your identical twin, she is really is you."

"Ok, well we figured that anyway," Selphie said.

"What did you mean, 'too much magic'?" Quistis asked.

"Look at this-"

The door to Exam 3 opened and the doctor stepped out. "Where are those- Ah, there they are." She took the pad from Seifer and looked at it closely. "Oh my goodness! These magic levels are through the roof! I've never seen such high levels as these in anyone except Mrs Kramer and Miss Heartilly!"

They all looked at Quistis. "Well how should I know why that is! I'm not a Sorceress! Right, Doctor?" she asked, a note of anxiety in her voice.

"No," Dr Kadowaki said firmly. "We would certainly have picked up on it by now if you were. The only reason your magic levels are slightly higher than anyone else's is because of the Blue magic, but that's only occasionally. However, these are a completely different story. Hmmm." She frowned and carried on muttering under her breath, tapping every now and again on the touchscreen.

"Is there anything else we can tell from the results, Doctor?"

"Not really. Only thing to do is wait for her to wake up."

"Is that likely to be soon?"

"No way to tell. She's in serious need of rest and it could be in ten minutes or in ten days." She looked at Seifer. "What do you think we should do with her, Commander?"

He frowned, thinking about it. "I think that there's a chance the high magic levels could be from Sorceress possession, and if that's the case we should have a twenty-four hour guard on the room at all times. Selphie, what did you do with..._her _gunblade?"

"Um...I may have left it in the lab."

"Ok, well, why don't you go and get it, then take it up to Leonheart and tell him to keep it somewhere safe." He turned to Quistis. "Would you mind taking the first watch?"

She nodded. "Sure. What about my classes?"

"I'll get someone else to cover them. I'm going to put some normal SeeDs on the door as well, but if she does turn out to be dangerous then you'll last longer against her than the others would."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not."

He smiled. "Take it as one."

"Huh. Ok, I will. What are you going to do?"

"Contact Matron, see if she can shed any light on whether she's being possessed or not."

"Couldn't Rinoa do that?" Selphie asked.

"Yes, but Matron's got more experience with this kind of thing, I think we'll all agree on that."

They nodded. "Ok."

"Right, I'm going to call Cid, Selphie can you sort out an alternative instructor for Quistis's class tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Yep yep. Leave it to me!" she said, punching the air before rushing away.

Seifer and Quistis laughed slightly at her energy. "It makes me tired just _looking _at her sometimes," she said.

"You going to be ok here?" he asked.

"I already said yes."

"I know, but..." He sighed and shrugged. "Never mind. Are we-" _Going to talk about what didn't happen last night? _

"Are we what?" she asked.

He sighed again. "Nothing. Good luck, Instructor."

She nodded once. "Commander."

Eight hours later, Quistis was sat in a chair at her own bedside, fast asleep, a mirror image to her future-self in the bed. She woke with a start as the door opened again. Squall walked inside. "I've come to relieve you."

She rubbed her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Just past three. You should get some sleep, Quistis. You look like hell."

"You certainly know how to make a girl feel special, Squall," she replied.

"So Rin tells me," he said, a rare smile gracing his features.

Quistis smiled in return. "How is she?"

Rinoa had gone to visit her father in Deling City in yet another attempt to rebuild the bridges between them. It hadn't worked yet. "She's ok," Squall said. "Said she can't wait to come home."

Quistis smiled. "I'm still ok here if you'd rather go back to bed."

He rubbed the back of his head, looking faintly embarrassed. "Nah. I, uh, always have trouble sleeping when she's not here."

Quistis nodded, sighing. "It must be nice to miss someone that much." Squall sent her a quizzical look. "No, I don't mean that, I just mean...having someone to miss that much." A picture of Seifer's wide, white smile flashed unbidden into her mind, and she blushed. "Oh, don't listen to me, Squall. I'm sleep deprived." She stood up. "I think I will-"

She broke off at a sleepy sounding moan coming from the bed. Squall and Quistis turned to look at the blonde woman in the bed. Quistis pressed the red button on the wall, calling Dr Kadowaki. She bent over the figure lying down. "Hello? Can you hear me?" Feeling foolish, she called her own name. "Quistis?"

A year of dodging death at every turn had meant that her future self did not take a lot to wake her, and she shot bolt upright. Quistis barely had time to move out of the way and avoid a 'paradox', whatever that was. "No, Selphie, don't I can't let you!" She stopped and took a deep breath, seeming to notice her surroundings for the first time. Then her gaze settled on Squall, and tears filled her eyes.

"Squall? Is that really you?"

He nodded and took a step forward. "Uh, yeah. I take it you're-"

She threw her arms around his neck a pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "You're alive! I can't believe it! I made it to the right time and here you are alive and everything! You have no idea how much I missed all of you!"

Squall disentangled himself. "Ok, um, you are Quistis, right?"

She nodded.

"And...so are you." He shook his head in a stunned sort of way. "This is going to take me some time getting used to." The two Quistis's stared at each other, both pairs of blue eyes wide with astonishment. "I think I'm going to go see where the doctor is. I'll be right back." He left, leaving a very awkward silence in his wake.

Quistis cleared her throat. "So...who exactly are you?"

"Well I'm you. From four years in the future. And I've come back to change it."

**A/N: And on that nicely dramtic note, I'm going to end this chappie. If you want to review, you'd make my day. But as Zebedee likes to say: Time for bed. Goodnight boys and girls. **


	5. Everything Goes Tits Up

**Chapter Five**

Quistis boggled at her double. "To change it? Why?"

Her other self grimaced. "I can't really tell you everything. It could change things in ways we don't want."

"'We'? Who's we?" Quistis asked while Squall came back in.

"Doctor's coming," he said.

Future-Quistis carried on. "Well…us. I mean, you don't know yet, but…" Her face took on an expression of longing. "Up until about eighteen months again things were about as great as they could get. And then it all changed."

Squall frowned. "What happened?"

Future-Quistis took a deep breath. "First, what- _when _is it? As in the date."

"September fifth," Quistis answered. "The graduation ball was yesterday."

"So this is two years after we killed Ultimecia?"

"Yes."

"And…" She stopped and swallowed. When she carried on, her voice was much quieter. "Seifer was promoted last night."

"Yes. Are all these questions necessary?" Squall asked irritably.

"I have to know if the spell worked," she said quietly.

Quistis raised a puzzled eyebrow. "What spell? We found extremely high levels of magic in your blood, is it something to do with that?"

She nodded. "In order to get here…I had to borrow some of Matron's powers. So that explains why it would look like I'm a Sorceress."

"So you're not?"

She gave a tiny smile. "No, you can relax about that, Quistis."

There seemed little point in denying to herself that she'd been anxious about it, so Quistis nodded in relief before frowning once more. "Could she not send you herself?"

Future-Quistis shook her head. "There wasn't time."

"Why?" asked Squall.

"Maybe we should get everyone else down here as well," she replied. "It affects them, too."

"Everyone else? Who does that consist of, exactly?"

"Who do you think?" both women asked him.

"Ok…that was scary. Don't do that again." He rubbed a couple of fingers over his scar absently. "Ok, I'll call Rinoa and-"

"No!" Future-Quistis's shout echoed around the tiny room, immediately drawing curious and slightly suspicious looks from Squall and Quistis. She swallowed. "You don't need to bother Rinoa. She doesn't need to worry about all this yet."

Squall raised an eyebrow, seemingly about to say something. Quistis looked at herself, the two cerulean gazes locked together. She saw the earnestness in her eyes, and nodded once, turning to her Commander. "Squall, Rin's coming home in a couple of days anyway, so why bother her in Deling?"

He shrugged. "Whatever. I'll go gather the others."

As he left, future-Quistis gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

"Why don't you want Rinoa there?" her younger self asked.

"I'll tell you later. Not now though." Suddenly her head snapped up. "What happened to my clothes? My weapon?"

Quistis frowned at the panic in her voice. "Selphie has it, don't worry. And we did wonder about that particular weapon," she added. "Since we do…we, use a gunblade?"

"Since we won a bet in eighteen months time." She looked down and cleared her throat. "Um, where is Seifer?"

The sudden change of subject caught Quistis by surprise. "Um, he went to contact Edea. We figured she could tell if you were being possessed or not. I'll call him and tell him we don't need her after all, actually."

"No, don't. I want to see Matron anyway. I have some questions."

"Ok, I'll ask him when she's coming." At the door, Quistis paused, looking at herself hesitantly. "What is it that needs changing so badly? Why did you come back?"

Future-Quistis sighed. "To save Seifer's life." Her voice barely made it above a whisper.

Quistis's mouth fell open, shock and dismay coursing through her. "Oh my Hyne," she murmured. "_When_? How?!"

The other woman shook her head. "Later, Quis. I don't have the strength to tell it twice."

"But-"

The door opened again, and Dr. Kadowaki came in. "Ah, excellent, Quistis, you're awake." Like Squall, she too was greeted with a hug that seemed to surprise her.

Quistis cleared her throat. "Right, I'll go and find Seifer. See when Edea is getting here." Once the door was shut behind her, she leant against it. "Holy shit, _Seifer_." As she rubbed the bridge of her nose – noticing a headache forming – she found her hands trembling. Her own feelings regarding Seifer were ridiculously complicated and whenever she was around him she was caught between wanting to murder him and wanting to… She shook her head. She couldn't think about that now. But whatever she did or didn't feel for him, the idea of him just being gone…A shiver raced up her spine, bringing a cold chill racing across her skin. The sudden urge to remind herself what he looked like overwhelmed her. She _needed _to see him. Taking a deep breath, Quistis pushed off from the wall and began making her way up to the Commanders' office.

--

_Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring…_

Seifer sighed and tapped his fingers on the smooth wooden surface of his desk. He checked his watch, frowning. This was the fifth time calling Edea, and she hadn't picked up yet. He was getting worried. Which would be fine except for the fact that it wasn't just worry anymore, it was in fact almost unadulterated panic by now. He checked the clock yet again. Eight hours. _Eight hours_. If she didn't pick up within the next thirty seconds, he was turning this whole Garden straight around and heading to Centra as fast as this hunk of metal could go. _Ring ring, ring ring, ring ring-_

"Hello?"

He let out a huge sigh of relief, quickly followed by anger. "Matron? Where the hell have you _been_?! Are you alright? What-"

"Seifer, you have to slow down a bit," Edea laughed.

"Don't you start laughing, Matron, I've been worried _sick_!"

"Seifer, I'm sorry, but I've been in Esthar visiting Ellone. I've only just got back to Centra. Did Cid not tell you?"

"Well…no, he didn't actually."

"Did you ask him?"

"In hindsight, that may have been the smart thing to do…" he muttered, feeling extremely foolish.

Edea gave a tinkling laugh. "Oh Seifer. I've been meaning to call you and congratulate you on your promotion anyway. What did you need?"

"I need you to come to Garden. We've kind of got a semi-emergency at the moment and we need your help."

"What is it? Is someone hurt?" she asked, her tone alarmed.

"No, but…yes at the same time."

"Meaning…"

"Quistis came back from the future. So now we have two Quistis's, and the new one has loads of magic in her blood, and we think that she might be being possessed like you were-"

"Right, I'll get to Garden as quick as I can. In the meantime, keep her under guard and away from any weapons. I should be with you soon."

"Alright. Thanks, Matron."

"Take care, my child."

"Bye." He put the phone down and sighed.

"When's she coming?" a voice asked.

Seifer nearly jumped out of his skin. "Hyne dammit, woman!" he hissed, spinning around to see Quistis standing in the doorway with a broad grin on her face. "Do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

She smiled and nodded. "Keeps you on your toes. When's Matron coming?"

"As soon as she can." He studied her more closely. "You look like hell, Instructor."

"So I've been told. The other me is awake. She wants to have a meeting with us all."

"She say what she's come back to do?"

Quistis nodded sadly. "She says she comes from four years in the future. She's not being possessed, but she…borrowed Edea's powers to get here, which explains the high mag-levels. She still wants to see Matron though," she added as Seifer reached with a sigh for the phone again. "And apparently, one of us – _more_ than one of us – is dead. But she's only come back to save one life."

He frowned. "Whose?"

She cleared her throat. "Yours."

"I'm dead in the future?"

She nodded soberly. "You, and Squall, and Dr. Kadowaki and very possibly Selphie. At the least."

"Did she say how?"

"No. She said that she would eventually though. I have no idea how keeping you alive is going to save the rest of us, but apparently you do have some uses after all. And if you say one word about your own self-importance I'm going to strangle you."

He sat back in his chair, certain that his smirk said it all for him. "Ok, you want me to round up Chicken-"

"_Don't _call him that."

"_Dincht _and cowboy and Selphie?"

"Not yet, no. Dr. Kadowaki might want to keep her observation for another night or so, but tomorrow both Selphie's and my classes will need covering.

"Got it." He leaned forward and pressed a button on the intercom. "Xu, get Instructors...Aki and Nida up here. Now."

"Yes, sir." The _sir _sounded extremely reluctant.

Seifer chuckled. "Now, Xu, what did we talk about?"

There was a rush of static as the woman on the other end sighed heavily. When she spoke, it was slightly muffled through clenched teeth. "Yes, _Commander Almasy, _sir."

"That's better." Still chortling, he turned to look at Quistis, who was still studying him with a mixture of sadness and confusion on her face. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Just imagining how much quieter the world would be without you," she said grinning.

"Did you want to keep your Instructor's license?" he replied, narrowing his eyes.

She gave him a warm smile. "I didn't say quiet in a good way. How's your first day going, anyway?"

He shrugged. "Ok. I can see why Leonheart's always got a stick up his ass though, the amount of paperwork there is. I'm going to go crazy within six months if I don't get out of here sometimes, though."

"You're Commander, assign yourself missions."

"I just might you know." The silence continued as Quistis still stood there, just looking at him. She knew she was staring, and she didn't care. If she only had four years to memorise what his face looked like, she was going to start now. When he spoke she jumped, shocked out of her little trance. "Quistis, look, about what happened at the ball…"

There was a pause as Quistis tried hard to remember what had happened. So much had happened since then – it felt like weeks ago. When she did get it, a pink tinge of embarrassment coloured her cheeks. "Oh. That. Well, we'd both been drinking and the exam was a success and with your promotion…Obviously, um, inhibitions were lowered too far, and…" She stopped, very aware of how high-pitched her voice was.

He nodded once. "Right. Ok, yeah. Glad we sorted that out."

"Yep." She turned to go, but stopped again by him calling her name.

"Quistis, wait a second, I-"

There was a knock at the office door, cutting him off, quickly followed by Nida and Aki coming in. "You wanted to see us, Commander."

"Yeah, am I right in thinking you've got no classes tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Then I want you to take over Instructor Trepe's and Instructor Tilmitt's classes tomorrow."

Quistis cleared her throat in a way that sounded an awful lot like the word 'please', and Seifer glared at he out of the corner of his eye. She smiled innocently at him as he carried on. "I need both of them doing something else tomorrow."

"Ok, Commander." They both nodded.

"Great. Dismissed."

Quistis started to go after them, but was called back in by Seifer. "What is it?"

"Um..." He actually had no idea why he'd called her name now. There wasn't anything else he could think of to add. "Never mind."

She shot him an odd look as though fearing for his sanity, then left.

--

"Well I can't find anything physically wrong with you anymore," Dr Kadowaki said. "But I still think it would be a good idea to keep you in for observation-"

"Doctor, I'm _fine_," Future-Quistis insisted. "Trust me, I've gone a long time without any kind of medical attention. I don't suddenly need it now."

"Yes, and that fact shows!" the doctor retorted. "Quistis, your whole body is covered with scars!"

"I still survived."

"Well I would definitely be interested to know where the one on your abdomen came from. That at least is-"

"-_not _under discussion. Please, doctor, I don't have _time _to be here anymore. _No-one _has any time for me to lounge around! I need to get up, right now."

"Very well. Hang on a moment, I'll call Selphie and get her to escort you up to the briefing room." She crossed to the phone on the wall and dialled a number. "Selphie? Yes, she's fine now, as far as I can tell. Could you come and take her to the briefing room? Yes, I'll notify the Commanders. Alright. I'll see you soon."

Quistis drew the curtains around herself and changed quickly, wincing a little at soreness in her muscles. _Used to be I could run a marathon and by fine the next day_, she thought with annoyance. _How has it changed so much_? Once she was dressed, she turned around for Hyperion, only to remember that Selphie had it. She clenched her fists at her side, nails digging into her palms. _I promised myself I'd never let go of that. _She raised a hand to her neck and touched the cold metal, feeling instantly comforted.

She drew the curtains with a sigh, in time to see Selphie come through the door. "Quisty! I'm so glad you're feeling better!" She wrapped her in a tight hug which Quistis happily returned.

"I'm glad you're safe, Sefie."

"Of course I am," her friend smiled. "Now are you sure you want to do this now? I'm sure Squall and Seifer-"

"No, Selphie. It needs to be done now. Come on."

Selphie nodded and took Quistis's arm. "Ok then."

Ten minutes later, they were all gathered in the briefing room, with future-Quistis on one side of the table, and everyone else staring at her on the other. Irvine and Zell, who hadn't seen the two Quistis's in the same room before, couldn't stop goggling at the two of them. Eventually future-Quistis snapped. "Stop looking at me like I'm a lab-rat. If you have questions just ask them. I'll tell you everything I can."

"Ok, well why don't you start with why you're here."

"I'm here, simply put, to save Seifer's life. In roughly three years' time, Seifer will be murdered. And trust me when I say that everything goes tits up from that point onward."

To his credit, Seifer did not smirk at that. "How?"

"On a mission. It was a trap. I don't know who, or when, or even where exactly. But it started something that snowballed into..."

"Into what?" Zell asked.

"The end of the world."

"So you're here to stop it?" Selphie asked.

"I'm trying. We need to work out who and why. And then maybe..." Her eyes flicked up and locked on to the emerald eyes looking back at her. "Maybe we can stop it."

"Why you? Why were you chosen to come back?" Zell asked.

"I wasn't chosen," she said shortly. "I was simply the only one left."

"What do you mean by that?" Squall asked.

Her voice was bleak when she answered. "Everyone's dead, Squall."

"When?"

"You mean in what order?" she laughed bitterly. "Seifer. Then you. Rinoa...she's gone. Irvine. Zell. Ellone." Tears filled her eyes as she looked across the table at her youngest sister. "Selphie, you were killed just before I came here." She looked down. "I wish I could sat it was just us, but there are _millions _of people dead. Imagine what would have happened if Ultimecia had beaten us. There are no safe places for anyone anymore. Even Esthar's been wiped out."

"How?" They all asked that question.

She took a deep breath. "I can't tell you. Don't look at me like that, Squall, I can't. If you know too much it could change things in ways we don't want."

"Then how do you expect us to do anything about it if you won't tell us what we're up against?!" Seifer growled out in frustration.

"I can tell you some things." She reached her fingers around her neck before doing to clasp of a necklace. When she drew the chain out, she disturbed the neckline of her tank top, just revealing another necklace. The same one that sat in the hollow of Seifer's throat now. _Why has she got all my stuff? _he wondered. Luckily, everyone else's attention was on the necklace in her hand, not the one around her neck. Almost everybody. Quistis's blue gaze locked and held with his for less than a second, but the intensity of the glance hit them both like a bullet. Quistis blinked,breaking the spell and turning her attention back to her other self.

Around the chain was a coin about two inches across, and an iridescent red colour, almost as if the metal had been washed in blood. There was a snarling dragon head engraved on it. "That was...found with Seifer's body," Future-Quistis said, swallowing. "And another one when Squall died."

They passed the pendent around, looking closely at it with no-one knowing where the symbol was from. Until it reached Seifer. Then with a shot of something a little too close to terror, he recognised it. His eyes widened, but he gave no other outward sign that he knew it. "Seifer?"

He looked up to see an expression of concern on future-Quistis's face. "You know it, don't you?"

He nodded. "It's Ultimecia's symbol."

"Are you sure?" Irvine asked.

"Pretty sure, yeah," he spat, glaring at the young cowboy. "If anyone's going to recognise it, it'd be me, right?"

"But that doesn't make sense," Quistis said. "Ultimecia is dead, we all know that!"

"Yes, but then how do you explain this?" Squall asked.

"I don't know, but-"

"Stop!" Future-Quistis said loudly. "It's not Ultimecia. The threat in the future...it's not from Ultimecia."

"Then what _is _the threat?"

"I've already told you, I can't tell you. But whatever this pertains to, it can't be Ultimecia. I was hoping that there might be something in the library."

"Why not just use the library in your time?" Selphie asked.

"Do you honestly think that Garden's still intact?" future-Quistis asked sadly.

There was silence in the briefing room for a few minutes, then Squall exhaled explosively. "Fuck."

"Selphie..." Irvine spoke, looking as though he was regretting his words even as they left his mouth. "What did you mean earlier? Something about a paradox? What is that exactly?"

"Well, there physically can't be two Quistis's in the same time. And so far, the laws of physics have ignored the fact that there are, mainly because the universe hasn't had that fact shoved in its face. But, if that happens – like if the two Quistis's touch, then that's a paradox. And because that's mathematically impossible, the universe can't deal with it. So it loses it, and basically all the laws that keep the cosmos bound together vanish. So reality – at any point in time – will cease to exist."

Irvine looked totally stunned at the deluge of information that his girlfriend had just unleashed. "And in English..."

"We'd all be screwed," she replied bluntly. "The same goes for the two Hyperions."

"Right, well it's too late to start a full-on library search now," Quistis said, "so I suggest we all try and get some sleep and we can started early in the morning. Because I don't know about anyone else, but all this science crap is making my head hurt."

"I second that," Seifer growled.

"Where am I staying?" future-Quistis asked. "I assume you can't put Quistis and I in the same dorm."

"No," Squall said firmly. "We have spare ones that haven't been filled by Junior Classmen yet, you can stay in one of them."

"Thanks."

They broke up the meeting and said goodnight. No-one was expecting to sleep much. Quistis walked next to her future-self, being careful not to touch her. "Can I...talk to you, for a moment?"

"Sure. What did you want to ask?"

Quistis shook her head. "In private." She led the other woman into her dorm. Once the door was closed, she turned to her. "Why do you have Seifer's things?"

Future-Quistis gave a sharp intake of breath. "What do you mean?" she asked, her hand going up subconsciously to finger the necklace.

"You have his weapon, you're playing with his chain now. Why have you got them?"

"Hyperion was mine even before Seifer died. Kind of. Won it in a bet." She gave a reminiscent smile that faded quickly. "And...the answer to your question- We both know how much easier it was to miss Seifer when he's not here – the war proved that. And...over time we just got closer, I suppose." Quistis widened her eyes in slight alarm. "Oh, not like that," future-Quistis said, reading it. "But that's why." She turned around to leave, still talking much more quietly. "To remember my best friend."

Then she was gone, leaving Quistis to her thoughts. She felt like they were bursting out of her skull. She rubbed her aching temples and lay down on her bed. "I so did not need this right now. Bloody paradoxes and future-selves and Seifer and my students and I so did not _need _this!" She exhaled and decided a shower might help soothe her nerves.

--

Seifer wasn't sleeping. He didn't sleep all that well anyway - the nightmares saw to that – but there was too much in his head to even think about sleep. After about four hours lying in bed without finding any rest, he got up and stretched. Looking around his dorm, the moonlight caught the blade of Hyperion, making it glint wickedly. He smiled, then dressed in some sweatpants and a t-shirt. Picking his weapon up, he headed out to the training centre.

It wasn't the first time he'd done this – almost every other night he could be found hacking up various creatures, giving each one of them the face of the nightmarish creature in his dreams. Walking past the rows of empty classrooms to get there always creeped him out though, now more than ever. Since they'd known what the future was, it was all too easy to imagine a Garden without people. He shivered and increased his pace.

There was a light up ahead, streaming into the corridor from one of the classrooms. He frowned. That was Trepe's classroom. Pushing the door open, he saw the same woman he was expecting – yet not the same woman – sitting on Quistis's desk. She didn't even seem surprised when he came in. Without looking up from the floor, she smiled. "Hello Seifer. Couldn't sleep?"

"Nah. I don't much."

She looked up. "I know. You're on your way to the training centre."

"How did you know I do that?"

"Because you told me."

"I did? When- Oh. I haven't yet."

"No. You will."

"How come you're awake?"

She sighed. "I'm reminding myself of what it used to be like. I couldn't remember what Garden was like."

"Is that the fucking GF's again?"

"No. I just couldn't remember what happy felt like."

"Hyne, Quistis. How the hell have you gotten through it?"

"No choice. Someone taught me once to seek a glorious death, and to keep fighting until I found it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like a wise person."

She laughed. "Wise, huh? Don't think he'd like that."

"So, you going to tell me? Who this big threat is?"

"Who says its a who? Could be a what. And actually I think it's a 'they'. Though I have no proof whatsoever. It's just a hunch."

"Well we'll start looking tomorrow. We'll find it Quistis. I promise."

She nodded. "Thank you."

He paused. "What will happen to you? If we do it and it works?"

"I won't ever have come back, so I'll fade away I suppose. If we succeed I'll cease to exist. You'll just have the right Quistis."

He blinked, a little startled. "You'll cease to exist? And you're ok with that?"

"Yes. There is nothing good about my life, Seifer. It's not one you want for your Quistis."

"My Quistis? Don't think she'd like being referred to as that."

Another sad smile. "No. I wouldn't I suppose."

They sat in silence for a while. "So why do you have Hyperion?" he asked eventually.

"I won it. We made a bet. You'd learn my weapon; I'd learn yours and we sparred using them. Whoever won got to keep the weapon of the other. I won," she grinned smugly.

He scoffed. "Pfft. Like that would ever happen."

"Well, I would challenge you now, except Squall hasn't given it back to me."

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were bullshitting me, Trepe."

Her smile disappeared. "It's, ah, not Trepe anymore," she said quietly, holding up her left hand to show the gold band encircling her third finger.

A bitter pang of disappointment flashed through Seifer. He knew himself well enough to be certain that he wasn't ever likely to be getting married. And Quistis had been his equal in that. The one no-one could tame. The one that no-one could make settle down and fit into a pattern. Now someone had – or would. "Huh," he grunted. "So what is it? If it's not Trepe?"

She looked down and swallowed, then got up and walked to the door. With her hand on the handle, she paused. So quietly he barely heard it, the word slipped out. "Almasy."

**A/N: **Ha ha! So there you go. Review please! Also I have an idea for another ficcy with not a lot – if any – Seiftis moments. Still Seifer, but someone else. Hopefully someone you wouldn't expect, at least not in the way I'm planning it... Let me know if that sounds crappy. Either way: REVIEW PLEASE. Ta.


	6. Symbols and Numbers

**Chapter Six**

Seifer hadn't moved for the last hour. His brain kept running around in ever-decreasing circles, from numb astonishment to the vague urge to giggle, back to shock again. Quistis. _Quistis_. Married. To him.

There were only three words he could think of that summed it up. _What the _fuck_?!_

He wasn't going to pretend that Trepe wasn't attractive, any man with eyes could see that she was. It was scary as hell trying to imagine being married to – well, anybody really. Alright, maybe if he had to choose, Quistis was as good a woman as any.

But strangely, it wasn't the idea of him being married to Quistis that stayed seared into his memory. It was the look in future-Quistis's eyes when she said it. He'd never heard his name be pronounced with anything but contempt or icy indifference. Not the way she said it. She'd said it like it was...sacred. The reverent sadness in her voice. The _love. That _was what had got to him the most. The fact that she really had _loved _him. No-one loved him.

_But she _does, he thought. _That means that at some point, _this _Quistis will too. _That brought an odd surge of smug satisfaction. _Looks like the Ice Queen's just as human as the rest of us. _Added to the fact that he now knew why she'd come back from the future. She wasn't just here to save the world. She wanted the man she loved back.

He smirked a little, then yawned. Looking at the time, it was past four am, and he was tired. Turning the light off on the way out, he couldn't hold back a smile at the idea of Quistis's reaction to learning they were married in the future. _I wonder just how pale she'd go. _

--

Quistis woke up very early the next morning, as she'd forgotten to shut the curtains the night before and now early morning sunshine was lancing into the room. She groaned and threw the covers over her face, but now that she was awake, it was impossible to go back to sleep. Sighing, she got out of bed and stumbled over to the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, clean and awake, she opened her closet and pulled on her jeans and a cream sweater, figuring that a library search wouldn't involve battling many monsters. She decided to leave her hair down for a change, and left to get a headstart in the library. She got there to find Zell's girlfriend Jenai already unlocking the door. "Good morning Instructor," she greeted politely.

Quistis smiled. "How many times, Jenai, it's just Quistis."

"Sorry, Quistis. It's just habit I guess. You're in here early. Anything special you're working on?"

"Actually yes, actually. Anything you have to do with dragons, specifically used as symbols."

"Erm...yes, I think I might be able to help you. We just have to cross-reference those two on the computer and it should throw up some results."

"Great, thanks."

"Come on then." The two women went into the library and walked over to the computer, only to be stopped by a voice.

"I've already looked guys. Found a load of stuff over here."

They turned to see future-Quistis sitting at one of the reading tables, surrounded by books. Jenai gasped. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, and Quistis remembered that she hadn't seen her future-self yet.

"Jenai, you don't know about this yet, do you?"

The girl shook her head numbly. "Well, somehow, this is me from four years in the future. And that's what I need help with – at some unspecified point in the future, something will go very wrong and-"

"I've come back in time to fix it," future-Quistis finished. "And this is what we need to find," she said, pulling out the necklace and handing it to Jenai.

"Oh, ok then," she said, seemingly handling it very well. "One question, though."

"Yes?"

"How did you break into my library?"

"Climbed in through...that vent over there. I hope you don't mind too much, but this is rather urgent."

"It's fine, just as long as you didn't break anything."

--

About an hour later, everyone else was there too, and every conceivable book about dragons or symbols or both were spread out across half a dozen reading tables. Selphie was bored stiff. There was nothing in any of these stupid books, and besides, there were more interesting things to do. Like watching her fellow researches. Particularly three of them. Future-Quistis was watching Seifer, Seifer was watching Quistis, and Quistis was watching future-Quistis watch Seifer. And Selphie was watching all three of them, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

Irvine leaned over to his girlfriend. "Selph, you do realise you're s'posed to be reading these books, right?"

"We're after symbols aren't we? Pictures, duh!"

Irvine rolled his eyes but didn't press the issue. "Then would you at least stop staring at them! When even _I_ notice it, you're being obvious."

"Oh shush. They haven't noticed have they?" she hissed back.

"Are you two researching or whispering sweet nothings?" Quistis asked, the hint of a smile on her face.

"Well I can't help it, Quisty! Sometimes Irvy-poo is just so cute!"

"'Irvy-poo'? What am I, a chihuahua?" he asked, looking indignant.

They all laughed, including future-Quistis, who looked to Selphie like...she was learning how to smile. It didn't quite have the easy grace that Quistis's smile had. They fell silent for a while, delving into the books once again. About twenty minutes later, Xu's voice came over the tanoy. "_Commander's presence requested in docking bay three. Commander to docking bay three._"

"That's probably Matron," Seifer said. "I'll go meet her."

Future-Quistis looked up. "Mind if I come with you?"

He shook his head. "Knock yourself out."

They both got up and left the library together, leaving Selphie watching Quistis watch the door, and everyone else back at the books. Zell found something. "Hey look at this!"

Whatever it was he'd found, it was in a surprisingly new book. The double page open in front of him showed an exact replica of the pendant now lying in the centre of the table. "It's got the dragon head and everything!"

"What does it say, Zell?" Jenai asked him.

"It says that...'although the dragon's head symbol is most commonly associated with Sorceress Ultimecia, it was also in frequent use during Sorceress Adel's reign in Esthar. There are even rumours that during her possession, Sorceress Edea may have used this symbol as well.' Well what the hell does that mean?" he finished.

"So it's not just Utimecia? It's all...dark Sorceresses?" Selphie said.

"I guess...So does that mean the threat from the future...is a Sorceress? A dark Sorceress?"

"Looks that way. But the only Sorceresses now are Rin and Edea," Squall said. "And neither of them would ever-" He cut off as his cell hone began ringing loudly, shattering the normally quiet atmosphere of the library. He shot an apologetic look a Jenai's glare and answered it. "Leonhart."

Rinoa's voice came over the other end. "Hey Squall, just wanted to let you know that I'll be home soon. Train's just left Deling."

"Great, we've got a bit of a situation here."

"What? Is anyone hurt?" she asked, her tone alarmed.

"No, everyone's fine. I'll explain when you get back."

"Ok...Could you come pick me up from the station?"

"On my way."

"Great. I'll see you soon then, bye sweetie!"

"Bye." He closed the phone and looked at the others. "Rin's on her way back now. I'm going to go pick her up."

They all nodded. _I wonder how the I'm going to react to that? _Quistis wondered. Her future-self obviously wasn't comfortable about being around Rinoa, and she had no idea why. _Please tell me its not the Squall thing. I thought I was past that. _She frowned, thinking hard. _No, I _am _past that. I mean if I wasn't past it I'd hardly be ogling Seifer all the-_

_Wait, backtrack. I may be over Squall, but I am _certainly _not ogling Seifer. That's that he's not...ogliable. But that's not the point. _She stopped, thinking again. She couldn't remember what the point was. _Oh right, Rinoa. Oh well, We'll just have to wait and see. _

--

As soon as they were out of the library, the woman walking next to Seifer turned to him. "Sorry about last night, by the way."

"Why are you sorry?" he asked. It was odd, but he honestly didn't feel any more uncomfortable with her than he had before.

"Well, you know, sorry if it freaked you out."

The corner of his mouth curled up. "Don't worry about it. There are worse people I could end up married to."

She chuckled. "I was thinking...maybe it's better if the other me doesn't know. Because she _would _freak out."

"Yeah, I know. She'd probably have some kind of seizure." They fell silent for a while before Seifer asked the inevitable question. "So go on then. How does it happen?"

"I'm not telling you that. Romance isn't quite that dead. Though answering the door dressed only in a towel – do that a few more times and see where it goes."

He grinned. "I knew it."

She rolled her eyes. "What did you tell Matron about me?"

"Oh shit, I forgot. She probably thinks you're being possessed, I guess. She told me that we should keep you under guard and away from your weapon."

"Does Squall still have Hyperion?" she asked.

"Well, he doesn't have mine," Seifer smirked.

"Rub it in why don't you?" she replied icily.

"Can you actually use it?" he asked curiously. "Or is it...because of sentimental value?"

"Yeah, because I'm known for being sentimental," she said dryly. "I can use it. Better than you can at any rate."

He snorted. "Come on, Instructor, no-one's better than me, you should know that."

She sighed. "Give it to me." He looked doubtful and didn't move. "Just for a minute!" she protested. "It's not like I'm going to hurt it!"

He handed it over carefully, his arms crossed and frowning. His scepticism quickly evaporated when she took it and weighed it in her hand like it was meant to be there. Standing in the hallway, she went through some advanced gunblade exercises with a grace and finesse that not even Seifer had. He'd never seen a gunblade be made to look...sexy.

By the time she'd finished, his mouth was wide open. She smirked and handed it back to him. "I think that would be proof of what I've been telling you since we were both about four."

"And that would be?"

"That girls rule and boys drool," she said cheekily. "So where actually is my Hyperion?"

"It's in the office safe, don't worry about it."

She nodded. "Ok. I'd still appreciate it if you could get it back for me though."

"You'll get it back Quistis. Now come on, Matron's waiting."

A few minutes later, they arrived in the docking bay to find Edea waiting. "Matron!" Quistis cried, running to wrap her arms around the older woman.

Matron looked at Seifer over Quistis's shoulder. "So, not possessed then?"

"No."

She smiled and returned Quistis's hug. "It's good to see you, Quisty. I take it you're the one from the future?"

"Yes. The other me is in the library with everyone else."

"Then I think we should go find them, don't you?"

The younger woman nodded and let go. Edea gave her a swift, maternal assessment with worry and concern in her golden gaze. She didn't say it, but it was obvious she was thinking what everyone else had said. _Oh Hyne. What happened to her? _

Edea gave Seifer a quick hug as well. "How was your journey?" he asked.

"Fine. A little tiring, but otherwise fine."

"Sorry we don't really have time for you to rest," Quistis said apologetically. "But we could really use your help."

"Lead the way, my dear." On the way back to the library, Quistis and Seifer between them explained the situation as best they could.

By the time they arrived back to the others, Edea was brought up to speed on what was going on. Zell stood up as they came in. "Hey, I got something, Quistis!"

"You did? That's great! What is it?"

"Well, apparently this symbol is used by dark Sorceresses," he explained while everyone gave Edea hugs. "Oh hey Matron," he said brightly, bounding over to give her a hug.

"Hello, Zell dear. How are you?"

"I'm great. Kinda...excited, but fine other than that, great!"

Future-Quistis leaned toward Selphie. "Selph, where's Squall?"

"He went to pick Rinoa up from the station."

The other woman paled but nodded anyway. Quistis looked at her other self's hands to see them clenched, fingernails digging into her palms. Two pairs of blue eyes met each other before flicking up to Edea.

"Now, I understand you need my help on something?"

"It's this, Matron," Irvine said, showing Edea the pendent.

She drew in a sharp breath and almost dropped it. Her eyes sought Seifer's in question, and he nodded slowly. "Ultimecia?" she asked future-Quistis.

"No. It's not Ultimecia. But Zell says that it's the symbol of all dark Sorceresses?"

"Well...yes, I suppose it is. Or was..." She sighed and turned it over in her hands. "Sixty-two," she murmured. "I never did figure out what that meant."

"What's that?" Selphie asked curiously.

"It's just a number on the back," future-Quistis said. "But I've always figured it didn't mean anything."

Edea took a deep breath. "I have one of these too. Or rather...I know where another one is."

"Yeah it says in this book that there were rumours you had one during your possession."

"I do. Or rather, I did. It's in a safe place. I don't like it to be around me."

"Understandable," future-Quistis said. "But...what were you saying about the number?"

"On the back of the one I have, it's not sixty-two. It's eighty-seven."

Quistis looked at herself. "Maybe it's not the dragon head we should be looking for. Maybe it's the number."

"You think?"

"Yes. Who wrote that book, Zell?"

He checked, and rolled his eyes. "Our smallest friend in Esthar."

"You mean...Odine?"

"Yep."

"Ok, so assuming there are three of these things – we have one, Edea has one, and...Odine has one , maybe? If Adel had one, then Odine would have got it after Laguna overthrew her, right?"

"Presumably."

Future-Quistis stood up and rubbed her forehead. "Ok, ok, let me get this straight. If the symbol isn't important, and the numbers are, we have sixty-two, and eighty-seven, and...whatever that one is, right? Well what if the numbers mean something? Like a code or a reference number or something?"

"To...?"

"I don't know!" she exclaimed, "But whatever it is, it could be the key to finding whoever killed Seifer! We just need to get our hands on the third one."

"Which is a problem, seeing as I doubt Odine's just gonna let us take somethin' from his labs," Irvine pointed out.

"You're right, cowboy," Seifer spoke up. "If only we knew say, Odine's boss. Who is that by the way? Is it the _President_? Shame we don't know anyone close to _him, _huh?"

They were all silent then. "Did...Seifer just come up with a _good _idea?" Zell asked in a stunned voice.

"Shut it chicken-"

Edea inhaled deeply, sending a glare at Seifer. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "_Zell. _Shut up." Edea opened her mouth, Seifer put on his most innocently-wicked smile. "I'm still allowed to do that, I'm his CO."

She looked away, biting back a smile. "Matron are you sure of the numbers on the back of your pendent?" Selphie asked.

Edea shook her head. "I'm afraid I'm not, no."

"Right," Quistis said, "So we have two objectives now, right? First one is get Matron's pendent, second is get the one from Esthar. Sound ok?"

Everyone nodded except Seifer, who was lost in thought. He still hadn't gotten rid of the image of Quistis swinging Hyperion around. "Commander?"

"Huh?"

"What do you think of the plan?"

He shrugged. "It's a good plan. Good luck trying to get Puberty Boy to agree to asking Daddy for a favour." He took a deep breath. "I suggest we go up to the briefing room and wait for Squall and Rinoa there.

--

About two hours later, they were all sat around the table, and trying to decide who would go where to get the three pieces. Squall and Rinoa had gotten back to Garden about an hour earlier. Both Quistis's wanted to go to Centra with Matron to get her pendent. Future-Quistis had had enough. She was tired, she was hungry, her dead husband was sitting across the table from her, she _still _hadn't got her gunblade back, and she was arguing – rather loudly – with herself.

"It's too dangerous for you to go!" future-Quistis protested.

"We have exactly the same skills!"

"That isn't the _point, _Quistis! You're not going, I am, end of discussion!"

"You are _not _my commanding officer, and you haven't even given me a real reason!" Quistis snapped back.

"Oh for the love of Hyne," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You are my past self. If you go and get yourself killed, I'll cease to exist. And then not only will me having come back here _not _made things better, but it actually will have made things worse, because you'll be down two heroes instead of one!"

Zell scoffed. "Who says Seifer's a hero?"

She spun around, fury in her eyes. "Zell, shut the fuck up. You have no idea what he'll do, or what he's been though." She turned around to face her other self, blinking furiously to stop the tears that nevertheless were spotted by everyone in the room. "Quistis, you are not going anywhere, and Squall, _give me back my fucking gunblade_, or Hyne help me, I will not be held responsible!"

Squall sighed, then nodded. "Alright. Quistis, you'll stay here with Seifer and Zell and make sure Garden runs smoothly. Rinoa, you'll come to Esthar with me and we'll try and persuade Laguna to let us have a look at this third piece. Selphie, Irvine and...other Quistis, you go to Centra with Matron and get the second piece. Everyone ok with that?"

"Do I get Hyperion back now?" future-Quistis said impatiently.

"_Yes_. For Hyne's sake, here's the key to my safe, it's in our office, just go and get it."

She snatched the key from his fingers and got on the lift down immediately.

--

Future-Quistis knew that she was probably being rude, and that no-one understood – apart from Seifer – why she was making sure a big deal about it, but she didn't much care. Over the past two years that weapon had saved her life more times than she could count, and being without it was like having a limb missing. It was bad enough having to face _her _all the time, but being without Hyperion wherever she was made her feel hideously exposed.

Coming to the door of the Commanders office, she paused to run her fingers solemnly over the brass plaque that bore his name, before pushing the door open. Rather than reach for the light switch, she stood in the doorway and tried calling up her borrowed magic. "_Inlustrare_."

Soft golden light that seemed to come from nowhere illuminated the room.

Kneeling down in front of the safe, she opened it and took out her gunblade with a sigh of relief. As she stood up, a sharp burning pain lanced right between her eyes, and she stumbled backward with a cry of pain. Before the pain had faded, it shot down to strike at her chest as well, quickly followed by a wave of grief that left her gripping the edge of a desk and breathing hard while she fought not to burst into tears.

_Matron... _She couldn't say how she knew, she just did. The magic within her seethed in turmoil, then settled to form a background pain. Not comfortable, but she lived with constant pain anyway. _I'll cope. I'll have to. _

A little recovered, she pushed off from the desk and walked to the door._ "Umbra." _Closing the door, she got back on the lift.

--

Upstairs, the others were discussing their future-friend. "She's really attached to that thing, huh?" Zell commented.

"Wouldn't you be?" Quistis asked softly, looking down at the floor. "If it was the only thing you had left of..." She trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence. A best friend, as she'd said? An ex-enemy? A brother? She couldn't help it – her eyes were drawn to his by a magnetic attraction. _A lover? _She sensed Seifer held the answer to that. But her pride wouldn't let her ask him. At least not in front of everyone else.

Future-Quistis came back up, looking much happier, Hyperion strapped to her leg. She threw the key back across the table to Squall. "Thanks, Squall."

"Right, so Rinoa and I will take the Ragnarok, Quistis, Selphie, Irvine, you'll go with Matron via a boat to Centra."

"I'd like to leave in the morning if you wouldn't mind," Matron said quietly.

"That's fine," future-Quistis said. "That ok with you guys?"

Selphie and Irvine nodded. "Works for me."

"So are we done here?" Seifer asked. "I have more paperwork to shred."

Squall flicked a glare across to his fellow Commander and then turned to Rinoa. "You ready to go tonight?"

"Sure. Just got to get a few things before we leave."

He nodded. "Right, I think that's everything."

Seifer beat him to it, as he always did when it came to giving orders. "Dismissed, people."

They all got up and split up into their separate groups. Irvine and Selphie left together, future-Quistis and Edea with them, Quistis sticking close to Edea, leaving Rinoa and Squall alone with Seifer and Quistis. "Be careful in Esthar won't you?" she said eventually.

"I doubt we'll be in any danger," Squall commented. "We're only going to get one piece of jewellery."

"Yes but we still don't know it's significance, so you should be on your guard all the same."

Seifer rolled his eyes. "Quistis, I think he's a little past being instructed on SeeD protocol now. As a Commander."

She blushed a little. "I know that, I didn't mean-"

Rinoa recognised the early signs of a Quistis-Seifer debate and turned to her boyfriend. "You should call your dad and let him know we're coming though," she said.

"How many times, Rin?" he answered. "He's not my 'dad'. We just happen to share some DNA, that's all."

She put her hands up. "Ok, ok. You should still call him though."

"How about _you _call him."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I just might do that."

The young couple turned back to their friends, still arguing, now bizarrely about the standard of the cafeteria food. "...perfectly nutritious, I don't see-"

"_Perfectly nutritious_?! Have you actually _tasted _the shit they serve down there? It's like munching on cardboard!"

"Still, it doesn't mean you can abuse your position to-"

"Who said anything about abusing it? Way I see it I'd be improving the lives of cadets all over Garden. And isn't that why you nominated me for the post, Instructor?"

"No, I nominated you because-"

Rinoa and Squall cleared their throats loudly in unison, causing the other two to abandon their spat. "Hyne," said Rinoa, shaking her head slightly. "You're like an old married couple sometimes."

At this, Quistis went red and Seifer carefully avoided everyone's eyes until Squall carried on. "Right, Rinoa and I are leaving now, we should get to Esthar by dawn."

"What time is it now?" Quistis asked.

"Twenty two fifteen."

"Right. Seifer I actually do need to talk to you about something before I go to bed," she said.

"Fine. As long as it's not a lecture about the food."

"Well I do think that we should have a discussion about that before you go spewing your mouth off, as you're apt to do sometimes-"

"Hyne, when did you become my instructor again?! You can't tell me what to do anymore, Quistis, get over it!"

Rinoa and Squall sighed, then got up and boarded the elevator without a word. Still arguing, Seifer and Quistis followed them on to it. Once they'd reached the bottom, Squall turned away and walked toward the hanger without a word, knowing that the two blondes would never hear him anyway.

Rinoa tried and failed valiantly. "See you guys when we get back! Good luck with Garden! No? Anything? At all? Not listening? No? Alright then, bye anyway." She gave a half-hearted wave to two backs and followed her boyfriend.

The others never noticed them leave. "...would you just quit it for a second, woman?!"

"Why should I? Just because-"

"I can make that an order, Instructor!"

"You can't _order _me to shut up just because you don't like what I'm saying! Well tough, you're going to have listen to me eventually-"

"Hyne, how are we supposed to work a marriage when we can't even run Garden for two hours?!" he exclaimed without thinking.

She went very still. _Oh crap. _

"What did you say?"

"Er, nothing, it doesn't matter," he answered quickly. The last thing he needed right now was for Trepe to go into cardiac arrest. His CPR skills were more than a little rusty.

"Yes it does. You just said- you said _married_. Oh my Hyne. She told you that didn't she? The other me. She lied to me! I asked if we were together in the future and she said no!" Seifer's question about how pale she'd go was being answered: Quistis was going paler and paler by the second, and was now the colour of off milk, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"And you believed her? Hyne Trepe, things were heading that way anyway, you know that as well as I do."

"They were not heading that way!" she protested. "They weren't even anywhere near it! I can't believe she lied to me!"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Would you stop avoiding the subject?"

"I'm not _avoiding _the subject, Seifer! I'm just not having this conversation right now."

"Well when are we having it? You can't just run away from this, Quistis!"

"Just watch me!"

She was practically sprinting out of the door before that sentence was finished, leaving Seifer standing in his office, frustration pushing up his temper. "Damn it Quistis!" He kicked a wall, flopped down on his chair, threw Squall's favourite paperweight across the room and then glowered at nothing in particular. _I need a bloody cigarette. _

--

Quistis found herself standing leaning against the railing on the seventh floor, looking down the spiral of Garden while it slept. "Hello Quistis," she said. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Actually I've been with Seifer."

Her future self stiffened slightly – not much, but enough to let Quistis know that Seifer had been telling the truth. "Really?" she asked. Her voice was a little strained.

"You told me that Seifer and I weren't together in the future," Quistis said, her voice quietly accusing.

"Seifer told you?"

She nodded. "Apparently it wasn't something he should have done?"

Her other self gave a small laugh. "No. Not really."

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Because you would have freaked out."

"You don't know that-" Future-Quistis sent her a sceptical look. "Alright, so maybe you do. But why tell Seifer and not me?"

"I never could lie to him. And it's a lot easier lying to yourself than anyone else. And besides, we've always hated the idea that our life is set out in a certain pattern. Discovering you were married to him may have thrown a spanner in the works. I suppose it has now." She sighed. "If romance wasn't dead before, I've just killed it."

"The idea isn't _that _terrible," Quistis said. "It's just…unexpected."

"But you've thought about being with him. Since roughly…when he answered the door dressed in nothing but a towel. And all I wanted to do was collect those water droplets with my tongue. And I-" She stopped sharply, drawing in a hiss of pain and putting a hand to her forehead.

"Are you alright?" Quistis asked.

"Not really, no. Matron died today," she said weakly.

"What? How? When?"

She shook her head. "Not this one, the one from my time."

"How do you know?"

"I felt it. Now she's gone, her powers don't have anywhere to go, so I'm stuck with them. It's like…" She looked up. "Remember the first dress that Xu picked out for our graduation ball? How tight it was?"

Quistis nodded. "I couldn't breathe."

"That's what it's like. Wearing a dress that's too tight – they just don't fit. Except they burn too."

Quistis shuddered, hating the idea that that could happen to her. "So you're a Sorceress now?"

"I suppose so. Yay for me," she replied humourlessly.

They both fell silent for a while, watching the sleeping Garden carry on in silence. Just as it always had. She'd seen it under attack, she'd seen bodies lying on the ground. But the idea of it being gone forever was inconceivable to Quistis. There was the sound of a door opening down below. Seifer stepped out into the moonlight, lighting a cigarette with a tiny flare of light. As soon as he appeared, future-Quistis walked away from the railing and out of sight, muttering something about him quitting. The moonlight caught the tears, lighting them silver.

"You really love him, don't you?" Quistis found herself asking.

She nodded. "Yeah. I know this seems impossible, but…you will too."

Quistis stayed silent, but couldn't hide her scepticism from her other self.

She laughed. "You like him though. Or certain parts of him, anyway."

"I do not! I don't-"

"Quis, I'm you. I remember being where you are. Let me see now; the favourite parts would be…his smile. The golden sparkles in his eyes when the sun hits them. The way he uses his gunblade like it's an extension of his arm…"

Quistis found herself spellbound by the caress in her voice, then she sniffed. "Well, I suppose his ass isn't bad."

Her other self bust out laughing. "Even better when his pants don't get in the way."

Quistis laughed, but then sobered. "How long are we- will we be married?"

The other woman wiped her eyes and sniffed. "Three years."

"Wow. That's um…longer than I was expecting."

She grinned. "Seifer is capable of commitment. Eventually." The smile faded from her face. "I envy you. You have no idea how much I've wished to go back to when things were wonderful. I was-" Fresh tears began to fall. "I was six months pregnant when the news came back to Garden."

"You lost the baby?" Quistis whispered, horrified.

She nodded. "More or less." She looked deep into her counterpart's eyes. "I have nothing left of the man I love. When it happens, don't waste a single second of it. Life's too precious. Too short. I know that better than anyone."

Quistis nodded and went to hug her clone. She backed away. "No can do, Quis. Paradox, remember? Would be a shame to open up a rent in time and space now," she smiled.

She gave a shaky laugh. "Right. Um…Well, I would give you a hug otherwise," she said lamely.

"I know. And I appreciate the gesture," future-Quistis returned, looking up at the sky. Eventually she sighed. "I haven't looked at the sky in so long. At least a year, probably."

"Why not?"

"Too busy surviving. Life's too short to waste time like that I guess."

Quistis found herself disagreeing completely. Suddenly she wanted to see all the stars in all their glory, unfettered by the light from other sources. Added to which, every new bit of information he clone gave her was simply adding to the maelstrom going on in her head. Any more and she'd explode. "I think I'm going to…think, some more," she said to her counterpart.

"Ok. Good luck running Garden by the way. We'll be gone, probably by the time you get back."

Quistis nodded. "Good luck to you as well."

--

**A/N: And another chapter for you all. Hopefully some questions have been answered, hopefully a few more have been thrown up. Review please! Oh, also I have a request. If you like the story enough for you to add it to your favourites, PLEASE review. Thank you!**


	7. You Owe Me Dinner

**A/N: Warning: Fluff ahead. In fact this is mostly fluff. If you wanna skip this chapter out, you won't really be missing out story-wise. Enjoy if, like me, you enjoy fluff!**

**Chapter Seven**

Seifer hated having a permanent migraine. It was irritating as hell, and since there had been two Quistis's in the same time, his head hadn't stopped aching. Wherever he went, cool blue eyes just seemed to follow him around Garden. And it was getting on his nerves. Especially when one of them could have put a stop to the migraines by just telling him what she knew, and the other was causing _more _migraines by refusing to talk to him, especially about the stuff that he thought was pretty damn important and-

_Oh fucking hell I need a cigarette. _

Once he'd lit one and the first nicotine-laden breath had filled his lungs, he felt better. A lot less stressed. Hyne, he'd only been in the job two days and already he couldn't wait for retirement. When the first cigarette was gone, he thought _better safe than sorry_, and lit another one. Just in case the migraine came back.

"You got a spare one of those?" a voice asked. Future-Quistis stepped into the pool of lamplight and took a seat next to him.

He shrugged and handed her the cigarette. "You smoke in the future?"

"Sometimes."

"What happened to worrying about the health risks?"

"Living long enough to get cancer would be a luxury," she commented.

He lit another one for himself and inhaled quietly. "You know more than you're letting on, don't you?"

"Yes."

"And you're not going to tell me."

"No. Especially since what ever I tell you, you go and tell Quistis."

"I didn't- oh. I did. She found you, huh?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What did she say?"

"She wasn't all that pleased I lied to her."

"So she didn't seem…"

"Like she was running for the hills?" She grinned briefly. "No, I think she was just a little perturbed. She'll get over it."

"You sure?"

"You sound anxious, Seifer."

"No…not anxious exactly, but I mean how can you know she'll get over it? No-one came along and told you you were going to end up married to me."

"True. But I had a _huge _freak-out the morning of the wedding."

"Oh thanks," he commented sarcastically. "Make me feel better why don't you."

"Oh shut up, I still married you didn't I?"

He shivered. "That's weird."

They sat in silence for a while till Quistis finished her cigarette. "I'm going to bed, I think. Have to get up early to take Matron to Centra."

"Look after her," he said.

She turned and smiled softly. "Ever the Knight, aren't you Seifer?"

He didn't smile. "I mean it."

"I know you do. She's my mother too, Seifer."

He nodded, and she turned away. "Quistis?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's Quistis?"

"No idea. She said she had to think some more, and she left. I don't think she's in Garden."

"I should go look for her…should I?"

She laughed. "Is that Seifer Almasy? _Nervous_?"

"Don't be stupid," he snorted.

She smiled. "Goodnight, Seifer."

It wasn't until the cigarette in his hands had burned down to his fingers without him actually having taken a drag that he moved. _Quistis. Find Quistis. _Except…where the hell would she be at midnight. Normally he'd try her room, but if she went to think, then he'd hazard a guess at the library. But that was closed. _Ok, I'm just going to…look. _

It was about two hours later that he finally gave up. Quistis didn't seem to be anywhere in Garden _or _in Balamb, and he was tired. And couldn't remember why he wanted to talk to her anyway. The most direct route back to Garden was along with bare expanse of white sand that made up the beach, so he decided to walk along it.

It wasn't until he'd almost tripped over her that he spotted Quistis. She was lying on the sand, her head pillowed by her hands, looking up at the stars. He sat down next to her. "Having fun?"

"I've never really looked at the stars, you know?" she murmured. "I mean, I've always known they were there, but there's just such _immensity _up there. They all look so close, but so far away at the same time. I mean, some of those stars could have burnt out a thousand years ago, and we're still seeing them shine."

He sighed, then lay next to her. "You seriously came out here to stargaze? Never figured you the romantic-poetry-crap type, Quistis."

"I'm not normally. But I was thinking about something she said. She said she hadn't looked at the sky in a year. That life was too short to waste time like that. And I thought that life is too short _not _to." She turned her head and looked at him. "We're mercenaries, Seifer. Our life expectancy is thirty-five. That means you and me, we've got what, fifteen years to live our lives? Maybe less. Have you ever taken the time to just look at something bigger that this squalid mess down here? Ever seen true perfection anywhere else but up there?"

He met her eyes, glimmering from both starlight and moonlight, and thought, _Yeah. I'm seeing it right now. _Her skin, always flawless, was now luminous in the silver rays cascading from the heavens, each star giving another light to sparkle in her sapphire orbs. She looked radiant in a timeless way. He didn't voice the thought out loud, instead turning his attention back to the sky. She was right, he reflected. It really was exquisitely beautiful. But he sensed that wasn't what had driven her out here. "Quistis?"

"Mmm?"

"I get that it's pretty and crap like that, but stargazing isn't why you came out here."

She sighed. "You have such an eloquent soul, Seifer." He didn't say anything. "I came out here to try and clear my head. Couldn't do it where there's two of me."

"So have the stars cleared it?"

"No. It's a little less cluttered, but still full. Of one thing, mainly." She wasn't entirely sure what had possessed her to add that onto the end. Because now he was going to ask-

"What?"

-and she'd have no choice but to tell the truth. "You," she said finally.

"Oh." He really didn't have anything else to say. There was nothing _to _say.

She took a deep breath, then turned onto her side. "Seifer, I just want you to know…"

He faced her. "Yes?"

"That whether…" she gave a small chuckle, "we're married or not, I don't want you to die in four years. I've gotten used to having you around. Commander," she finished finally, a small smile on her lips.

"Would you change it?" he asked suddenly. "If you could?"

"You mean you not dying? Of course I-"

"No, I mean…us being married."

She didn't look away. She didn't blink. Her gaze stayed locked on his. "No," she breathed finally. "Would you?"

Without thinking about it, he did the only thing that seemed natural. He leaned forward, letting his lips graze over hers in a soft kiss that nevertheless both of them felt in their bones. He pulled back less than a fraction of an inch, a small sigh escaping him. "Kinda takes all the spontaneity out of it, doesn't it?"

Suddenly her mouth was on his again as she kissed him again, pouring everything she had into that one moment – that small eternity that was theirs. It wasn't saying she loved him, or that she was anywhere close to that yet. But it was a start. She pulled back after a few moments for air. "Spontaneous enough for you?"

He smirked. "Not bad."

Her smile faded. "Let's just…forget the future. Just live it day by day. So right now, I'm saying that I, Quistis Trepe, like you, Seifer Almasy. And I did before everything got all messed up, so there. That's it."

"Well, I suppose you do owe me a dinner." He smiled at the puzzled expression on her face. "Don't remember?"

--_**Flashback**_--

Seifer was slumped at his desk, finishing a quick, though in his opinion rather artistic, sketch on the underside of his desk. Naked chicks were always fun to draw. He almost jumped out of his skin when a cool female voice sounded right by his ear. "Class is over, Picasso."

He spun around to see the less-than-impressed face of his instructor mere inches away from his own. The rest of the classroom was empty. "Where's everybody else?"

"Well Seifer, they were listening to me, and so heard me say 'Class dismissed'. You on the other hand, were not, and so are still here. In time to hear me give you detention."

"What?! You can't do that, I'm the-"

"-Head of the Disciplinary Committee, I'm familiar with the concept," she snapped, all patience gone. "However over-inflated your ego might be about the amount of power you actually do wield, you son of a-"

"Careful, Instructor," he interjected. "You're not allowed to insult students."

"I think I'll make an exception for you, you conceited bully."

"Ice queen."

"Arrogant asshole."

"Frigid bitch."

"Obnoxious bastard."

"Now, Quistis, is that really the way you want to speak to the man who'll soon be your boss?"

Quistis snorted. "Ha! You're not that good, Seifer."

"I'll be there one day," he returned stubbornly.

She shook her head disbelievingly. "The day you become me my boss is the day I buy you dinner. And trust me, that is _never _going to happen." She scribbled out a detention slip and handed it to him. "Back here, seventeen hundred hours tomorrow."

He took it. "You know if you want to get me alone, Quistis," he said, sauntering to the door, "all you have to do is ask."

The stapler hit the wall a fraction of a second after his head had been moved.

--_**End flashback**_--

"I didn't mean I was actually going to buy you dinner-" she started.

He smirked. "But you said it. And I thought you never said anything you didn't mean."

"Well I don't, but-"

He heaved a mock sigh. "Well if you want to ignore an opportunity to get me alone, Instructor, then I suppose you don't have to buy me dinner."

She rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "I want to sleep out here tonight," she said quietly after a while.

"Too bad we'd freeze," he pointed out.

"'We'? I wasn't aware it was a 'we' issue. Can't have the Commander catching pneumonia now. Squall would be devastated."

He snorted, then stood up and offered her a hand. "Come on. Let's get inside."

"You go on ahead," she said simply. "I'm going to stay out here a while."

"Why?" he asked curiously.

_Because in there I'd suffocate_, she thought. She didn't say it. Instead she sighed. "Really, Seifer. Go inside. I'll follow soon, I promise."

"There's no arguing with you, is there?"

"Nope."

He smirked. "I'll tell Matron you're out past your bedtime."

"It didn't work when I was six years old, Seifer, it's not going to work now."

"Worth a shot. Night, Quis."

His footsteps, already muffled by the sand, faded away quickly. Quistis sighed, then sat up, looking out at the ocean. Only the white crests were visible as the waves broke slowly, almost languidly. She touched her mouth gingerly, her lips still tingling slightly. She gave a little giggle, then buried her head in her hands. "Oh Hyne, I'm losing my mind."

--

The morning after, Edea, Irvine, Selphie and future-Quistis were all sat on a transport, speeding its way to Centra. Edea was dozing, covered up with Irvine's coat, and the three SeeDs were doing what any good SeeDs would be doing – checking their weapons. Selphie was standing a little further apart from the others to make sure she didn't accidentally garrotte someone, going through some exercises. Irvine was sat opposite Quistis, and once he'd made sure he had enough ammo, he sat watching her clean Hyperion from under brim of his hat. Irvine wasn't stupid – he just preferred to observe more than he liked to talk, and Hyne knew Selphie talked enough for the both of them – and he could see the care that future-Quistis was putting into the care of that weapon.

The cloth stroked lovingly up and down the gleaming blade with smooth strokes, the woman holding the gunblade doing it with an absorbed, wistful smile on her face. She loved that weapon. "You love him, don't you?" he asked.

She looked up, a wary expression on her face. "What do you mean?"

"S'ok," he added from under the brim of his hat. "I won't tell anyone. Still don't get all this time-travel crap though. I mean, how can there be two of you in the same time anyway?"

Quistis smiled. "People don't understand time, it's not what you think it is."

"What is it?"

"Complicated."

"Then explain it."

"Alright…From a non-linear, non-subjective linear point of view, time is really just this big ball. A big ball of…wibbly-wobbly…timey-wimey…stuff."

He raised an eyebrow. She smiled. "I told you it was complicated."

"Remind me not to ask next time."

They fell into silence for a while till Selphie came back, wiping beads of sweat from her forehead. "Are we nearly there yet?"

Quistis smirked and moved to the computer, which was taking them there on autopilot. "Almost. A few more minutes. I'll wake Matron."

A few moments later, they stepped out, blinking in the harsh morning sunlight. "Where to now, Matron?" Quistis asked.

Edea pointed. "This way. There's a cave in the next cove. We just have to get through the monsters to the back-"

"Monsters? Powerful?" Selphie asked. She sounded eager rather than scared.

She nodded. "I'm afraid so, yes. But if we want the medallion, that's where we have to go."

"Better get going then," Irvine said. "After you, Matron," he added.

Quistis went ahead of Edea, with Selphie and Irvine following behind. When they came to the cave, all of them stopped. A huge wound in the rock wall of the cliff, gaping menacingly and threatening to swallow them. The black hole seemed to leech light from the world, and just going in there would require more courage than most men had.

Selphie voiced what they were all thinking. "Whoa."

Her voice broke the trance, and Quistis took the opportunity to load a few more bullets into her gunblade. "Come on. Let's go."

--

**A/N: I know I said I wasn't going to update again for the rest of summer, but I found time. Anyway, enjoy, and, as always REVIEW!**

**Oh, and the quote from Dr Who - I don't own. The BBC does. **


	8. Regelling and a TRexaur

**A/N: I'm sorry I've been away for so long! But finally, an update! **

**Chapter Eight**

Quistis woke up the next day with a smile on her face. It wasn't until she'd stretched luxuriously, got up and showered slowly, then dressed in her uniform and was checking her hair in the mirror that she even realised. She stopped in the middle of applying a light layer of mascara and looked quizzically at her reflection. _I'm smiling. Why am I smiling? _The smile was back as soon as she remembered. It seemed so odd that just a few days ago the idea would have terrified her – now it brought a flush of heady pleasure. She was _involved _with Seifer.

She had to stop for a moment and think through that.

Seifer.

As in Seifer Almasy.

Former student. _Former pain in the ass_. Former Sorceress's Knight. _Former traitor. _Current Commander of Garden. _Current boss. _

Quistis sighed and put down her makeup. "What have I let myself in for?"

--

Selphie hadn't been disappointed – there were a _lot _of monsters in the cave. Behemoths, Grand Mantises, even a couple of Ruby Dragons all assailed the party on their way to the back of the cavern. Except after the fiftieth Behemoth…it wasn't so much fun. It was now getting tedious. Still, having two Sorceresses with them had certainly helped, and even when her magic began to run out, future-Quistis proved she was an excellent warrior in her own right, dispatching the monsters with utter ease. Of course they knew that Quistis was a great fighter anyway, but none of them had ever seen her fight with Hyperion before – but she was amazing. When Seifer used it he made it look as natural as breathing, but Quistis allowed her whole body to become a weapon – every twist or slash she made with the blade, her body followed it through effortlessly. It wasn't fighting. It was a dance.

They'd been in the cave about an hour – _this cave is fucking ridiculous_, Quistis thought – when all the monsters dried up. Completely. Gone. All of them. Nothing left. Zip. Not a sausage.

"Ok…Why does this make me very afraid?" Selphie asked nervously.

"I don't know…but I'm not happy either," Irvine agreed.

Quistis shifted closer to Edea and tightened her grip on Hyperion. "Let's just keep moving. And be ready for anything."

They continued in deepening silence, Edea leading the way with a conjured light floating above her. Quistis took up the rear, shivering against her will at the menacing pools of shadow that seemed be more numerous than ever, crowding in as soon as the flickering light moved on. She stopped, frowning and lifting Hyperion into a guard position. Something was not right here. Something was really not right. She raised her right hand and uttered a spell. "_Lux_." A light similar to Edea's flared into existence above her, floating up to hover near the ceiling. As her attention turned back to her surroundings, she could have sworn that the shadows remained stubbornly present, before fleeing from the light.

"Quistis!"

She turned from her inspection of the shadows that seemed disturbingly alive. "Huh?"

"You ok?"

"I'm fine, I just-"

"Quistis, look out!" Selphie screamed.

Years of dodging death had given the blonde a sixth sense, and even as Selphie yelled, she was already turning, ready to move out of the way. Just in time too, as the bullet that would have gone into her chest only grazed her arm. Well, more than a graze, it had lodged itself in her shoulder, smashing the joint. Quistis's only reaction to the pain was to grimace slightly. After all, what was one more flare of pain, one more scar to add to her collection? In practical terms, Quistis was left-handed anyway, so she could still wield Hyperion, so it hardly mattered.

The being that had shot her was suddenly standing there where before there had only been a pool of shadow. Definitely man-shaped, but definitely _not_ a man. It seemed to be made of blackness, absorbing the light in the same way the cave had. It did not seem to have corporeal form, and drifted about in little eddies like smoke, only to come swirling back together again. It looked like some monster from myth. The gun it was holding, however, appeared to be very real.

"What the hell?" Irvine exclaimed, bringing his shotgun up and firing a couple of rounds into it.

Nothing happened.

Or more precisely, nothing happened to the man-creature, as the bullets passed harmlessly through it to smash into the cave wall and fill the air with the smell of cordite. Irvine raised his eyebrows. "Right… Uh, any ideas?"

Edea reacted first, throwing up Protect around them all. Just in time too, as the creature fired again, the bullet glancing off the shield and pinging away somewhere else. The party backed up slightly. "Any bright ideas?" Selphie asked as she cast a Cure spell on Quistis.

Quistis, now free from the pain haze on her mind, was thinking fast. The creature seemed to be made of shadow… Shadow was banished by light. _Light. We need light. Fire._ She held out her right hand and cast the first spell that came to mind. "_Flare._"

There was a blinding flash of light, and the horrifying sound of sizzling, followed by a long, drawn out scream. When the spell faded, there was no sign of the creature – all that was left was the machinegun it had been holding, now lying on the floor of the cave. "What the hell that _that_?" Selphie asked.

Quistis shook her head. "No idea." She turned to Edea. "Matron? Have you ever seen anything like that before?"

"Nothing."

"Well at least we know how to defeat it if there are any more in here."

"Um, ladies?" Irvine asked, looking deeper into the cave. "Something's glowing up there."

"Yes," Edea said. "That's…where the medallion is."

--

Squall felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. Of course he always felt like that whenever he had to go to Esthar. So far he'd managed to avoid it as much a humanly possible – business only. Except for that one hellish Christmas, and that had been for Ellone. His big sister and a lot of alcohol had got him through that one.

But right now he didn't think there was enough alcohol in the world to help him with this situation.

Rinoa cast an apologetic look at her boyfriend, who glowered back and continued having his hand shaken off by a very excited and very enthusiastic estranged father.

"Laguna."

"-so great to see you in my neck of the woods-"

"Laguna."

"-can't tell you who thrilled I am that you're here-"

"LAGUNA!"

The president stopped and smiled mildly. "Yes, Squall?" he enquired hopefully.

The young Commander struggled not to roll his eyes, and managed to wrestle his hand out of Laguna's grasp. "We're here on business. We need some information."

"Well why didn't you say so?" was the bright answer. "Anything you need, just ask. Well not _anything_, I mean I'm not going to give you my job," he winked. "But if it's in my power to get it for you, Squall, I will. Just information? You don't need anything else? Technology? Food? Somewhere to stay? To interview potential instructors for E-Garden? What about-"

Squall drew in a deep breath and cast a _help me _look at Rinoa. She hid a smile and took Laguna's arm, steering him gently out of the room. "Thank you for your help, Laguna, but we are rather in a hurry. People's lives could be at stake."

"Oh my goodness! Well what is it that you need?"

Rinoa smiled sweetly. "Actually we need to speak to Dr Odine…"

They left the Presidential Office, and Squall was left to shake his head and wonder silently how the hell he had gotten along without Rinoa in his life. An hour later, Laguna, apologising profusely, had been called away on some urgent business and left them alone with the diminutive doctor. After having ordered Odine to hand over anything they wanted. As a result the puny professor **(A/N: Ok, I'll stop now. Sorry looks ashamed) **was not at all happy, and made it clear that he did not appreciate being made to work under duress.

Especially when he was told what they wanted.

"Absolutely not! Zat iz a very important historical artefact and I cannot possibly allow anyone to have access to it!"

"So you'd be willing to have the deaths of possibly millions of people on your hands?" Squall asked bluntly.

Odine looked uncomfortable and shifted a little. "Of course not…But zere iz no evidence that that iz the case!"

"It is."

Odine folded his arms and frowned a little more. "Why do you want it?"

"That's classified information. I believe you were ordered to assist us in any way you can."

As far as a grown(ish) man could, Odine looked sulky. "Zat may be ze case."

"Great, lead the way," Rinoa said brightly.

The doctor led them deep into Odine Labs, to a part that neither of them had ever seen before. Through automatic doors of bulletproof glass, opened by a palm reader, then a set of radioactivity-resistant six-feet thick concrete doors that needed a retina scan to open them. When they opened, Squall and Rinoa found themselves staring down a long, blindingly-white corridor that apparently had no end. Odine started forward immediately, and they followed. The corridor did go on for at least a mile, sloping gently downward until Squall was sure they had to be underground. Every now and then there were more reinforced steel doors that required a pass-code to get through, and then stairs beyond them. _Hyne I hope there's a lift on the way up. _

Finally, after at least half an hour of corridors and stairs, they came to a completely ordinary looking door. It was white, and made of wood with the simple brass handle. There wasn't even a lock. A cold shiver raced down Rinoa's spine. It was creepy…it looked so _ordinary_. The most mundane thing anyone could have imagined – and after all the security, that seemed decidedly ominous. She couldn't help imagining half a dozen armed assassins waiting for them beyond that door. Another shiver. _If anyone tries to hurt Squall I'd kill them faster than blinking. _

Squall noticed his Sorceress tense, and took her hand, squeezing her fingers gently, silently asking if she was okay. Rinoa blinked herself out of her morbid imagining and smiled. Reassured, the Commander turned his attention back to Odine, who was opening the door. The room it revealed was tiny, no bigger than a closest. It contained nothing except a grey filing cabinet with a red light blinking on it and a black desk. On the desk was a small jar of cotton buds and a strange looking piece of machinery that was connected by a wire to the filing cabinet.

Odine strode over to it and took out a cotton bud. "What-" Squall began.

"It iz for DNA," Odine interrupted. "Only I have access to ze information within this cabinet."

He inserted the cotton bud into his mouth, rolling it around his cheek. Taking it out, he took it carefully over to the machinery and rolled the end onto a sensor pad carefully, allowing his saliva to coat the pad. A few seconds later the machine beeped twice in a satisfied sort of way, and the light on a cabinet turned green. Odine pulled open the bottom drawer – admittedly, the only one he could reach – and took out a blue metal box.

Squall and Rinoa crowded around it in curiosity, exchanging puzzled looks. Odine removed the lid and reached inside. He drew out a small clear plastic bag, and hesitantly handed it over into Rinoa's waiting palm. She opened it eagerly, the vacuum seal hissing as air rushed in. The medallion glinted slightly in the humming florescent light as the young Sorceress took it between her fingers. At first glance it was exactly the same as the one the future-Quistis had – the snarling dragonhead carved into the metal and radiating evil. Rinoa shuddered, picking up on an aura of magic coming from the metal. This had definitely belonged to a Sorceress.

Squall took it and turned it over, checking for the number on the back. He breathed a sigh of relief at finding it. It was forty-three.

He showed it to Rinoa. "Forty-three," she murmured. "Quistis was right. They must mean something." She looked up at her boyfriend. "Now we just have to find out what."

Squall nodded. 'We can figure it out back at Garden."

He made a move to stow the medallion in an inside pocket. Odine protested. Loudly. "No, no, no! I agreed you could look at ze medallion! Under no circumstances may you remove it!"

Squall took a moment to bestow a withering look at him. "Whatever."

The young couple left Odine spluttering in his rage and began the long, _long_ climb back up to the city, and to Garden. Squall wondered if it would be too rude if he didn't say goodbye to Laguna.

--

Seifer hadn't seen Quistis all day – and he wasn't quite sure how he felt about that. What had happened last night, while they had both wanted it, seemed like a distant memory, or as if he was remembering a dream. The main problem was putting a name to what they were now. More than friends. Less, maybe, than boyfriend and girlfriend? No, that wasn't right, it wasn't like he was attracted to her on a merely physical level, and he enjoyed just being around her – especially arguing with her and pushing her buttons. He was pretty sure she enjoyed that part too, or at least got a similar buzz from it.

Whatever it was between them, it was a little more defined than it had been this time yesterday, but still fluid enough that there weren't too many uncomfortable expectations there. _Bad idea to make it public knowledge though. _He really didn't want to have to face the look on future-Quistis's face. He wasn't even sure how she'd react. _But there's no need to test it. _

He'd had a pretty good day otherwise. Granted, the pile of paperwork on his desk had gotten considerably bigger, and he hadn't touched it yet, but it wasn't like he hadn't had better things to do. Along with Nida he'd spent the day interviewing applicants for the instructor posts in the new Esthar Garden. He couldn't believe that the opening was only a month away and Squall had done hardly anything in terms of practicalities. True, Leonhart managed to get the whole thing built, but it was nowhere near to be ready. _No wonder he needed help. _Nida had asked Seifer if he would sit in on the panel for the interviews. When the Commander had asked why, Nida had given a slight smirk and answered that if the applicants could deal with Seifer then they could definitely deal with SeeD cadets. Seifer had responded with a certain finger and a threat of demotion.

It was as he was walking whistling down to the cafeteria for a coffee that he did see the woman most of his thoughts had been running around all day, also getting coffee. He grinned, but carried on whistling. As his footsteps got closer to her, Quistis stiffened, but didn't turn. Instead she simply shook a sugar packet and poured it into her coffee. "Afternoon, Instructor."

She met his eyes briefly, but couldn't hold back a smile at his expression. He looked like a little boy just presented with a shiny new bicycle. "Commander. You're in a good mood. Should I be scared?"

"Now, now, Quistis," he said, taking a seat opposite her, "that's not terribly polite. I was just wondering how my favourite employee is this fine day?"

She grinned and rolled her eyes. "You're not supposed to have favourites, you know."

"True, but it's hard to resist an employee that enjoys kissing me."

"Who said anything about me enjoying it?"

"You're telling me you didn't? Because from where I was standing-"

"You mean lying," she pointed out.

"Well I had hardly be held responsible for my posture, Instructor?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, drained her coffee and stretched luxuriously. "Urgh, I haven't had a proper workout in ages!" Then she stopped. "I don't want to know how you heard that."

Seifer put on his innocent face. "Instructor, you wound me. I'll have you know there are some puns that are too obvious even for me." Quistis gave a sceptical look as Seifer continued. "And besides, if you want a workout, then I'll be only too happy to oblige."

Quistis gritted her teeth. "Thank you, but I don't think I really need _that _kind of workout."

"Really, Instructor, you should learn to get your mind out of the gutter! I was only suggesting a session in the training centre," he exclaimed, jade eyes twinkling.

Quistis narrowed her eyes. "You are an infuriating man."

He grinned. "So I've been told."

"But yes, I will take you up on the offer of training."

"Great. 1700 hours then?"

"Sounds good. Gives me time to get changed," she said, getting up from the table. "I'd rather not get my uniform all dirty."

"Hyne forbid you should have to take it off in front of me."

Quistis turned and smirked. "At least not yet."

Half an hour later, and seven minutes late, Seifer walked into the training centre, Hyperion balanced in its normal position on his shoulder. He turned the corner to see a very pissed-off Quistis, whip in hand, arms folded, glaring at him. "You're almost _ten minutes _late, Seifer!"

"I know, I know, but I got held up."

"Doing what?"

The truth was re-gelling his hair, but he somehow didn't think she'd like that. "Just…held up is all."

"Right, whatever," she said, turning on her heel and stalking deeper into the training centre, unfurling her whip.

_That's going to bite me in the ass. _Seifer swiftly followed her, not liking the idea of a T-Rexaur swallowing his sort-of girlfriend. Not that Quistis couldn't take care of herself, but still.

He was right – Quistis didn't talk to him at all for the next half an hour, not making any comment if he helped or healed her when she needed it. Which in turn led to Seifer getting annoyed – if there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was being ignored. Which of course Quistis knew, and was taking full advantage off. When there was an attack by a T-Rexaur, it happened to be an especially high level one, and for the first time in years, they found themselves being tested. And being driven against a wall.

Seifer dodged another smash of a massive tail and cursed. _When the fuck did these things learn tactics?! _

While he was unwillingly keeping the monster distracted by dodging teeth, Quistis delivered a lashing blow to its left leg, resulting in a huge bleeding gash from the barbs on her Save the Queen. The T-Rexaur let out a roar of pain and rage and spun on the blonde instructor, who couldn't get her whip disentangled in time and was now facing a rather painful rather bloody death. Seifer charged, knocking Quistis out of the way and accidentally into the wall. The monster changed direction and switched targets – rather foolishly, as it turned out – since Seifer managed to bring his blade up in time. The T-Rexaur impaled itself on Hyperion, the gunblade pushing deep into the roof of its mouth and into the brain.

With a sharp tug, Seifer pulled his weapon out and stuck it into the ground for a moment. He turned to Quistis, who was still coughing on the ground, and he felt a flush of guilt at probably winding her. "Are you alright?" he asked offering a hand to help her up.

She ignored his hand and used the wall to pull herself up. "I'm fine."

"It's, uh, dead."

She ignored that, and ignored the fact that he'd probably just saved her life. "You're welcome, by the way."

"I could have handled it!" she snapped.

"Oh sure you could. Before or after you got your head bitten off?"

"I don't need to be bloody rescued just so you can feel like a man, Seifer!"

"Oh for fuck's sake, no-one's calling it a rescue! Hyne, woman, don't be ridiculous!"

"I'm not being ridiculous! I can take care of myself!"

He rolled his eyes. "So that's what this is about – you're worried the great hero's reputation will be damaged when it turns out she's just a damsel in distress like every other poor, pitiful princess there is."

By the time he'd finished speaking, Quistis was stood there open-mouthed, turning steadily redder with rage at every word. She was angry because he'd saved her life, she was angry that she probably would have died had he not, and angry that even though he was dirty and sweaty and covered in monster blood – she wanted to jump Seifer's bones right then and there in the training centre. Still, she didn't know if she was going to kiss him or beat him up.

She went for the latter, and punched him hard in the stomach.

"Damsel in distress?!" The pain and the shock of being hit began to fade, but he still didn't react fast enough to stop the next blow. "Damsel in fucking distress?! Do I look like a _damsel_ in fucking _distress_, Almasy?!"

"Ok, ok! I take it back! Hyne, Trepe stop _hitting_ me!"

She did, breathing heavily and flushed, now beginning to tremble a little from something entirely unconnected to anger. Her hair had come out of her clip, and was now tumbling around her shoulders in loose waves, her mouth slightly open and the tip of her tongue peeking out to moisten her lips. Seifer's eyes caught the movement, and he swallowed hard, suddenly overwhelmed by the urge to replace her tongue with his. From the _come hither _look on Quistis's face – which he could have been imagining, but prayed to Hyne he wasn't – the idea wasn't too far from her mind either.

They moved at the same time, reaching out and crushing their mouths together fiercely. They fell back onto the wall behind Seifer in a tangle of heated lips and wandering hands. The hot, hard kiss was far more aggressive than their previous embrace had been, and Quistis was the one to deepen it quickly, her tongue flicking teasingly against Seifer's and provoking a battle for the dominance of the embrace. Her fingers slid under his shirt, touching the hard muscles she found there and revelling in the sensation as they flexed in desire under her touch. Seifer groaned and ran his fingers down to grasp her ass, squeezing roughly in retaliation. Quistis moaned in response and pressed a little closer, losing herself in the hot peppery taste that was just utterly _him_ and totally insatiable. Seifer, for his part, was equally gone, thinking that it didn't really matter if he died within the next ten seconds, because this had to be what Heaven was like. The kiss intensified until they both had explosions of pleasure ricocheting around both of their heads.

Wait. Those were just explosions.

Garden was under attack.

--

**A/N: Alright, because I've been gone so long, I've posted two chapters. BUT you have to review this one first before you move on. Review buttons just down there **


	9. Something More Special

**A/N: Did you all review? Good readers if you did. BAD readers if not. YOU are forbidden to read this chapter. Of course I can't actually stop you...bugger. **

**Chapter Nine**

The three SeeDs had taken the precaution of constantly circling Edea as if she were some kind of rare antique as they inched carefully toward the source of the glowing illumination. It turned out they did need to know how to defeat the shadow-creatures, as another half a dozen of them attacked on the way. Irvine still reacted on instinct, and wasted at least another ten shotgun pellets before he controlled his initial reaction and let the two Sorceresses take over. They dispatched the 'shadows', as Selphie had taken to calling them, without too much trouble.

Still, it was with a sense of relief that she watched Edea reach the small stone plinth that the glowing came from. It was obvious that she couldn't touch it; an invisible force-field surrounded it, preventing anything from coming too close. "Quisty? Could you help me please?" Edea requested.

Looking at all happy about having to sheathe her weapon, Quistis did so anyway and stepped up to Edea. "What is it?"

"There is a spell protecting the medallion, and I cannot break it using my powers alone."

"So you need my help?"

"Yes. It requires two Sorceresses."

The blonde nodded, but then frowned in curiosity. "Why did you put so much security on it?"

Edea shrugged. "It was connected to Ultimecia – I didn't want anyone to be able to access it, whatever it turned out to be."

Quistis nodded again. "Makes sense. What do you need me to do?"

"Give me your hands, and let your power channel into me – it should be relatively easy, since it is basically my power. I can do the rest."

The younger woman did as she said, closing her eyes and getting quickly drawn into the spell that Edea was muttering. Within about thirty seconds, there was a brilliant flash of white light, and then the glowing faded, leaving behind only the medallion lying on the rock. Quistis picked it up immediately, turning it over and looking eagerly at the numbers on the other side. "Eighty-eight," she murmured.

"Great, can we get out of here now?" Selphie asked, now as eager to get out of the cave as she had been to enter it.

Quistis threaded the medallion onto the chain next to its brother and nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

It seemed to take an enormously long time to get out of the cave again, and forty-five minutes later they could have still been three miles from daylight again, or less than a hundred metres away. On the plus side, there had been no more attacks by the shadows. Ten minutes afterward, blessed light could be streaming from around a corner. Selphie let out a small cry of joy – only to let out a similar cry, but of fear this time. There were at least six of the man-shadows, roiling up from the shade to block the cave entrance. "Damn, these guys just don't give up, do they?" Irvine remarked. He swept his hat from his head and gestured. "Ladies."

The two Sorceresses cast identical Flare spells on the shadows. Which had no effect whatsoever. The six shadows burst into hissing, reptilian, blood-chilling laughter.

Irvine could think of only one thing to say.

"Shit."

--

The attack on Balamb was not as bad as it had first looked. When Quistis and Seifer had rushed out of the training centre, it had seemed like all hell had broken loose on the academy – monsters chasing frightened cadets everywhere, tremors shaking the ground every few minutes, more explosions rocking Garden every thirty seconds – but once the SeeDs and the instructors had taken control of the situation, the crisis was over surprisingly quickly.

After an hour of dispatching SeeDs all over Garden to deal with the pockets of conflict still going on, Seifer was beginning to get worried. It wasn't the fighting itself – that was hardly a problem, and the monsters all seemed to be fairly weak – but he was worried _because_ of that. No-one who knew anything about SeeD would send such weak monsters to attack B-Garden. Which meant that this was a test. Someone was deliberately probing Garden to find out how strong they were. And there was only one reason Seifer could think of – sooner or later they'd be attacked again, and by something or someone much more dangerous than this current threat.

He just had no idea when or who.

Though at this particular moment he really didn't have time to worry, since he was fighting a monster that worked on magic and was resistant to fire. Which was basically the only magic he knew. "Quistis!" he yelled. "Trepe, get the hell over here!"

Quistis looked up from tending to a wounded cadet and nodded, then dashed over. Seeing the problem straightaway, she summoned Shiva. Not quite fast enough – the Bomb, already large and threatening imminent self-destruction, cast a strong fire attack onto the GF. She let out a silent cry and doubled over, before raising back up proudly and flinging an ice spell at the Bomb. It let out a wheeze and vanished.

Seifer let out his breath and looked around, assessing for anymore threats. It looked like the Bomb had been the last one, so he sheathed Hyperion. Zell had come jogging over, a little out of breath. "All the…wounded have been…taken to the Infirmary…no more monsters left."

Seifer nodded. "Good."

Quistis was listening as well and let out a sigh of relief. "So it's gone, whatever it was."

"Looks that way," Zell said.

"Alright, let's get all the senior ranking SeeDs and instructors to the briefing room. I'd like to see what everyone thinks this was."

Quistis stopped, then, for no particular reason, looking at her GF. Shiva looked back in her calm, cold detached way. _**What is it you intend to do, Mistress? **_she asked.

The woman shook her head. "I'm not sure…"

Zell took a step forward. "Quistis-" He was cut off as Seifer held up a hand, indicating he should stop. He wasn't entirely sure what Quistis was going to do, but he knew that it was something the shorter man shouldn't interrupt.

Quistis wasn't paying attention, instead reaching for her stock of Cure spells. It wouldn't work, she knew, as Cure spells were specifically designed to heal humans. _But perhaps if I…_ Without really thinking about what she was doing, she found herself examining the very fabric of the spell itself. It wouldn't take much effort just to tweak here…and there…_That should be it. _She opened her eyes again with some surprise, having not remembered closing them, and looked again at her wounded GF. The poor creature was still a little slumped, one hand pressed against her side, but still had that reassured look about her. Shiva knew Quistis would do something. And now so did Quistis. She held out her hand and cast the revised spell. "_Cure._"

Immediately, the womanly shape of her GF straightened, standing tall and proud once more. She inclined her head to Quistis. _**Thank you, Mistress.**_

Quistis dismissed her, and turned back to her comrades to see them both goggling at her. "What?"

Seifer spoke first. "Quis, you just _healed _your GF."

She shrugged. "So? It was just a simple matter of changing the Cure spell slightly-"

"Whoa, you can't just _change _spells, Quistis. That magic has to be at least a thousand years old, it's impossible to just _change _it!" Zell protested.

She looked at him rather coolly. "Apparently not." Zell frowned at her tone, but then winced in pain as he remembered the bruise on his leg. Unnoticed by him, Quistis flushed a bright scarlet, then a sort of off-white colour.

Seifer took control. "Zell, can you go and make sure there are no more wounded?"

He nodded and walked away. Seifer turned to Quistis, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright? You don't look so hot."

She shot him a narrow-eyed glare.

"Ok, so you still look hot, but then you always do."

She tried to stop the smirk from spreading across her face, and failed. Seeing his smirk in return, hers vanished to be replaced by a frown and a finger stabbing into her chest. "Ooooh you just think you're so _smooth_ don't you? Well I have news for you, Seifer Almasy, you-"

He only smirked wider and put a finger on her lips. "Shut up, Quistis." With no further ado, he leaned in and placed his lips neatly on hers.

The kiss lasted no more than three seconds before Quistis broke away again. "I think you'll find I decide when and where I kiss you, Seifer, not you."

"Meanie."

She raised an eyebrow. "Meanie?"

He ran a hand over his face and cursed. "Oh Hyne I'm spending too much time with Messenger Girl." He looked so genuinely distressed that Quistis just had to kiss him.

--

At Irvine's uttered curse, the six shadows began laughing again. It still made Selphie's skin crawl. And the fact that their only known weapon wasn't working didn't help matters. "Uh, right…any bright ideas about what we do now?"

"Um…no," Irvine said.

"You cannot defeat usssss," one of the shadows said.

"They can talk?!" Selphie exploded.

"We can do many thingssss you will never undersssstand, human," another hissed.

"Well, you can die, so that's really all I care about," Quistis said. She stretched out Hyperion with an expression that could have come straight from Seifer's face. "_No Mercy._"

The shadows lasted no more than ten seconds before they dissipated, writhing in flame and heat and vanishing in screams. Quistis smirked, determined to enjoy those pain-filled cries as much as she could. Every time one of these bastards died they felt the tiniest sliver of the agony that had built up inside her for the last years. There was nothing she wouldn't do now. A touch on her shoulder made her flinch, and very nearly decapitate Selphie. "Whoa, Quistis!"

"Sorry, Selphie!" she exclaimed, pulling her friend up.

"What the hell was that?!"

She shrugged. "Limit break."

"Yeah, but it wasn't yours!"

Quistis looked at the ground, repressing the tears that prickled her eyelids. Her voice was very quiet when she spoke. "It is now."

"C'mon," Irvine said quietly. "Let's get out of here."

By the time they'd gotten back in the boat, all four of them were desperately tired, especially Edea and Quistis, since they'd used so much magic. Once the boat was safely on autopilot, it fell silent as all of them fell gently to sleep. It wasn't until there was a quiet _ping_ about four hours later that consciousness was resumed, and even then they stumbled from the vessel with weary expressions. They were replaced with alert alarm when they saw the state Garden was in.

"What the fuck's _happened _to it?!" Selphie gasped, grabbing her weapon and charging inside, Irvine on her heels.

Quistis followed swiftly, mentally pleading to Hyne. _Not again. Please not again._

They needn't have worried, since it was clear that whatever had attacked Garden had come and gone, and the Commander had everything under control. They burst into the briefing room firing questions. Inside, having finished the briefing with the others a few moments before, were Cid, Seifer, Zell and Quistis. They all looked relieved to see the others back safe and sound and started explaining what had happened. Once she'd ascertained that he was alright, future-Quistis sent Seifer a glowing look full of pride and love – that immediately got Quistis's hackles up. She knew she had no right to get jealous at her other self looking at Seifer like that, since technically he'd been hers before he'd been…well…hers, but she still didn't like it.

To change the subject, she asked about the medallion. "Was it eighty-seven, like you thought, Matron?"

"No. It was eighty-eight. But at least now we have two of them. Assuming Squall and Rinoa managed to get a third from Dr Odine, we can start trying to work out what this all means."

"So no ideas on that front then?" Cid asked.

"Afraid not," future-Quistis asked. "We'll just gave to cross that bridge when we come to it."

There was silence for a few moments as everyone lapsed into deep thought, the strain clearly written on their faces. Then Seifer spoke. "Matron, I don't know if you'll know anything about this, but..."

"Yes, dear?" Edea prompted.

He looked up at Quistis, eyes narrowed in contemplation. "During the attack, Quistis's GF was injured. It's nothing really unusual, but what is unusual is what Quistis did afterward."

"I don't think it's a big deal!" Quistis complained. "Shiva was injured, I healed her with magic. We do it all the time!"

"With people," Zell joined in, for once on Seifer's side. "No-one I know has ever healed a GF before!"

"Well I did, so can we move on with these pointless questions and onto something important? Like trying to figure out what these Hyne-forsaken numbers mean?"

"I agree," future-Quistis said. "In the past…the future…whatever, I've healed GFs loads. Well, before they were all destroyed," she added, in somewhat macabre tone.

"But that's impossible!"

"It's not impossible! All I had to do was-"

"Quistis," interrupted Edea's gentle voice.

"Yes?" asked two voices.

"Just the current you, dear," Matron said to the future one, "What did you actually do to the spell?"

Quistis shrugged. "Just altered it so that it was designed for GF bodies rather than human ones. It really wasn't that difficult."

"Changing magic and the fabric of spells is something that very few have the ability to do," Edea said quietly.

"So Quisty's another sorceress?" Selphie asked.

There was a deafening silence before Edea answered. Then she smiled. "No. I believe that Quistis is something entirely more special."

--

**A/N: Oooooooooooooooooh mystery! But you'll have to wait for the next chapter. I will give you a hint though – she's not an alien. Review please!**


	10. A Maker

**Chapter Ten**

**(A/N: Cue cheesy voice): **_Last time on 'The Key'._

"So Quisty's another sorceress?"

Edea smiled. "No, Quistis is something entirely more special."

--

"What?" Quistis urged.

"Maybe we should wait for Squall and Rinoa to return before I tell you," Edea said thoughtfully. "That way I don't have to tell it twice."

Both Quistis's mouths gaped open, and they spoke together. "Matron! You can't just stop there!"

Future-Quistis gestured around with her arms. "You can't just tell us we're _something_ and not tell us what!"

"It's totally unfair!" Quistis agreed, folding her arms and adopting a petulant expression.

Everyone smirked at the identical expressions on their faces. Edea smiled gently. "Quistis, I'm sorry but you'll have to wait. _Both _of you," she added.

"But _Matron_…" It was Selphie's voice this time that was the whiny one.

"No, Selphie, dear. And if it's alright with everyone, I think I'll go rest for a while."

"It's fine," Seifer replied. "Rest for however long you need to."

"If you could wake me once Squall and Rinoa return?"

"Of course."

To no-one's surprise, future-Quistis made herself scares – Selphie thought she might be a little ashamed of herself after almost decapitating her, so went after her. She found her at the helm of Garden; not driving, since they were staying in Balamb for the time being, but just standing looking out over the ocean. The rest of the bridge was empty.

"Hey, Quisty. Whatcha doin'?" Selphie asked.

"Nothing much," she answered hoarsely.

When the younger girl moved to her side, she saw tear after tear rolling down her friend's cheek. "Quisty, what's the matter?!"

Quistis shook her head and wiped her tears away. "Nothing. I'm just…"

"You're just what?"

The blonde woman took a deep breath. "Seifer died today. This day, two years ago."

"So that's why you're upset?" Selphie asked, rubbing her back.

Quistis shook her head. "I'm crying because I forgot. It was only as I came up here that I remembered." She turned haunted blue eyes on her friend. "I forgot, Selphie. How could I ever forget?"

Selphie gave a sad smile. "It won't happen this time, Quisty. He's not going to die, I promise."

"How can you know that?" Quistis asked.

"I just do," Selphie answered proudly. Then she hesitated. "Why up here? What is it about up here?"

At this, more tears coursed down Quistis's face. She shook her head, unable to say it. _Because I've always loved this view. Because Seifer knew that. Because this is where… _

She turned back to see the distant shape of the Ragnorok coming from the south-east. "Selph, we should go wake Matron. The others are here."

At the door, she paused, one more defiant tear lingering on her cheek, refusing to be wiped away. She could see the bridge in her mind as it had been three years ago. Lit by soft candlelight everywhere, her favourite song playing softly in the background. She swallowed back a sob.

…_Seifer asked me to marry him. _

--

By the time Squall and Rinoa disembarked from the airship, they were tired, and hungry, and still no match for a Selphie hopping from foot to foot in excitement and anticipation. "You guys, hurry _up_, Matron has something really important to tell us about Quisty and she wouldn't say anything until you got back, and now you _are _back and you have to come up to the library because that's where Matron is an-"

"Selphie," Squall said heavily. "Shut up." He didn't mean to be rude, but he wasn't patient at the best of times, and after Laguna had caught them before they left the Esthar hanger, he couldn't deal with a hyperactive Selphie too.

Her face fell less than an inch, before she was off bouncing again. "Well ok if you wanna have something to eat or something first but can we-"

For the first time in his life Squall felt like crying.

Twenty _long _minutes later, they were all once more seated around the reading tables in the library. "Edea, the stage is yours," Seifer said, gesturing to her.

Edea stood with a gracious smile and nodded. She turned to the two Quistis's, sat side by side. They exchanged looks of mingled nervousness and excitement, wondering what she was going to say. It was almost like waiting to be told whether or not you have some kind of terrible disease, Quistis thought.

"You are a Maker."

"A Maker? What's that?"

"You have the ability to create Guardian Forces."

They all gaped. "What?! But…GFs aren't _created, _they're…they're…" Everything stopped then as they all tried to think of when exactly they'd learned how GFs came into being.

"You know…" Selphie started.

"I've never…" Irvine.

"Heard anyone say…" Rinoa.

"How they were created," Zell finished.

They all turned to look at the two Quistis's. "Well don't look at us!" future-Quistis said.

"We don't actually have any proof that's the case, Matron. The evidence is sketchy at best," her other self said.

Edea nodded. "Quistis, when you have GFs junctioned, do they speak to you? In your mind?"

"Of course."

"They do to everybody," Squall pointed out.

"How does Quetzalcoatl address you, Squall?"

He shrugged. "With my name."

"Yeah, same here with Alexander," Selphie agreed.

Edea nodded again, still smiling. "Quistis?"

Both women were wearing identical puzzled frowns. "Mistress," Quistis said.

"The same," future-Quistis echoed.

There was silence for a while whilst Edea smiled triumphantly. Seifer rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Ok, Matron, why don't you explain this whole thing to us properly."

"Quistis, you're the only Blue Mage currently in existence. In the manuscripts that I've found – it's kind of a hobby of mine – it says that all Blue Mages had the ability to take the magic of monsters."

"Right, which I can do, but I just use it against them afterward."

"Yes, but you also have it in you to store and reform that magic into something different. Something more permanent. A Guardian Force."

"How?"

"I don't know yet, but there are also reports of a Maker being able to create the ultimate weapon against evil by _using_ the elements of evil."

"I thought Ultima Weapon was…well the ultimate weapon?"

"No. As a last resort, the Maker can combine all the powers of every Guardian Force – and bind them to herself."

"Wait," Quistis said. "What do you mean 'as a last resort'?"

"Well…" Edea hesitated, looking uncomfortable.

"Matron," Seifer said gently. "We have to know."

Edea took a deep breath. "It requires the sacrifice of the Maker's life. To form a new, invincible GF. And even then, the GF would only work once, dying afterward. But anyone with it junctioned would be unstoppable." Edea looked directly at the two identical women, unable to stop tears from forming in her honey-coloured eyes. "One of you would have to die. And even then there's only one person in the world who could junction with it, so we'd have to find them too."

Future-Quistis crossed to her and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back. "Don't think about it, Matron. Like you said, it would be a last resort. We have no reason to use it."

Everyone else's gaze was fixed on the tender scene between the two. Sure, Quistis loved Edea as her mother, but rarely did she go so far as to hug her. It was another uncomfortable reminder that in the world she came from, Edea was all she had. _No, _Quistis reflected, _now she doesn't even have her. _A rush of fear swept over her, and she shivered visibly. _Hyne I couldn't do that. _She glanced at Seifer briefly. _I may not be in love with you, Seifer, but don't die. Please don't leave me alone. I haven't fallen in love with you yet. Give me a chance to do that._

There was silence for a while as everyone watched the two women comfort each other. The Zell broke it. "You know…I think it might be a good idea if we make a list of all the GFs we know of – all of them, just in case."

"Zell, there are other ways we can-" Quistis started.

"I know, Quisty, but it's a good idea anyway. That way we can be prepared for the worst case scenario."

Jenai, also there, nodded at her boyfriend. "I'll go and get the relevant books." A few moments later she was back, not with a book, but with a portable plasma screen on which there was a list of data. "Now, the names on the left are the ones we have here at Garden or are carried by SeeDs," she said, "but the ones that are on the right we do not have, or cannot junction."

Quetzalcoatl **Pandemona**

Shiva **Cerberus**

Ifrit **Doomtrain**

Siren **Jumbo Cactuar**

The Brothers **Eden**

Diablos **Odin**

Carbuncle **Gilgamesh**

Leviathan **Phoenix**

Alexander

Bahamut

Tonberry King

They all leaned over the desk and studied the list, before one of them spoke. "Um, I'm seeing a problem here."

"What?" Seifer asked.

Future-Quistis pointed at the right-hand list. He looked at the name her finger had landed next to. "Oh. Bugger." He looked up to see five glares being directed at him. "Yeah, like I had any choice in that!" he said hotly.

Quistis waved her hand dismissively. "Ok, so we cross Odin off that list. That still leaves seven GFs we haven't got. Added to which, there are GFs that won't allow themselves to be junctioned."

"Like Gilgamesh for example," Zell said.

"He will junction with Quistis," Edea said calmly.

The two Quistis' looked up. "Why? Why should he when no-one else-"

"It is in his best interests to," Edea replied. "You can take him apart atom by atom if you wished."

Everyone's eyes widened, and the two blonde women exchanged a startled glance. Eventually Quistis shook her head. "Well, at this present moment, it doesn't matter. What matters are those numbers. Squall, what was on the medallion you found in Esthar?"

Squall reached into his jacket and threw the metal coin onto the surface of the table. "Forty-three."

"So…Selphie mused. "We have forty-three, sixty-two, and eighty-eight." There was a pause. "Any ideas?"

Another silence. "Not a one," Irvine eventually sighed. All heads turned in one direction, and all voices uttered one name. "Quistis?"

Both of them looked up, startled. "Why should we know?"

Irvine shrugged in reply. "Well…you are the smartest one of all of us."

More silence. Somehow there was no arguing with that. Then future-Quistis shrugged. "Well we have no idea."

Jenai sighed and looked idly down at the numbers she'd scribbled down on the notepad. She'd doodled on the paper for all of ten seconds before she gave an exclamation of surprise. "Oh my Hyne! I've got it!"

Everyone's heads snapped to her. "What?" Seifer asked.

"I can't believe I didn't see it before!"

"_What_ didn't you see?" Squall said.

"It's so obvious!"

Zell put a hand on her shoulder. "Baby, what is it?"

She looked up to him, her face shining with glee. "It's a reference number!"

"It is?"

"Yes, look!" She pointed to the page in front of her, her finger stabbing enthusiastically at the numbers. 43 62 88. "We have a similar system here in Garden! Hypothetically, if these did correspond to Garden, then the forty-three would be the section, the sixty-two the shelf number and the eighty-eight the book number on that shelf." She grinned. "It refers to a book, or a file, or something. But definitely a reference number."

Zell kissed her until everyone made noises of disgust. "Ok, so now, thanks to Jen-" she blushed furiously, "-we now know what the numbers are."

"But we don't know what they refer to," Seifer pointed out.

The two Quistis's spoke. "Well Esthar is a good guess." Future-Quistis carried on. "We know what the numbers are, yes, but it would appear that the person with the most information after us is Dr Odine. We need to consult him again."

Squall sighed. "So does that mean we have to go back to Esthar?" he said, barely suppressing the whiny tone.

They all tried hard not to laugh. "No, not if you really don't want to," Irvine chuckled. "Me and Selphie can go, can't we, sugar?"

Selphie nodded and clapped her hands together. "We get to see Sir Laguna!"

Future-Quistis spoke up. "I'll go with you if it's alright?"

Seifer opened his mouth to say something, but Squall beat him to it and nodded. "Yeah, Zell, you should go with them as well."

"Right.'

Quistis opened her mouth. "I also think that those not going to Esthar should begin researching where these remaining GFs are." She saw Edea about to protest, and held a hand up. "I'm not suggesting that either of us use them, but Zell is right, we have to consider it a worst case scenario."

"Plus the fact having the extra GFs would be good for Garden anyway. When E-Garden opens, the GFs will have to be divided over the four Gardens," added future-Quistis. "Trust me when I say that they won't go very far."

Everyone nodded, and Squall picked up where he'd left off. "Right, Jenai, we're going to need your help. Every book Garden has about those missing Guardian Forces we need to read. We have to find them."

"Agreed," Seifer said. "But Balamb isn't going to have all the information alone, is it? We need to go to G-Garden and Trabia to look as well."

"There is also another problem," Jenai said quietly. "A lot of the basic texts – like the ones focusing on GFs, are boxed up and in transit to Esthar."

"Already?" Squall asked.

She blushed. "Well yes, Commander, I mean the opening is only two weeks away. There's a lot of logistical obstacles to be overcome."

"Not that you'd know that, Leonhart," Seifer pointed out. "As you were too stubborn to admit that you needed help and now no-one apart from me knows what the hell's going on."

Quistis, Edea and Quistis all shot him warning looks, whereas Squall did not react at all. When you'd heard as many of Seifer's disparaging remarks as he had, they just tended to roll off. Ignoring the blonde man completely, Squall cleared his throat. "Right, so Irvine, Selphie, Zell, Quistis, you're all going to Esthar, agreed?" They all nodded. "Rinoa and I can go to Galbadia Garden and search through the library there, but we still need someone to go to Trabia."

"What am I, the invisible commander?" Seifer said. "Me and Trepe can go."

"You're needed on board Balamb," Squall stated. "You can't just go running around Gaia while-"

"Wasn't actually aware I needed your permission, Pubes. Besides, I'm a commander too, I can delegate."

Seeing the direction he was heading in, Quistis spoke up. "You won't have to delegate. Garden is mobile, remember? We can take it to Trabia."

Seifer shot her a withering look. "Thank you, Instructor."

Quistis kept calm. "You're perfectly welcome, Commander."

Edea caught her eye and smiled encouragingly. _He needs you, Quisty. He might not say it, but he does. _

"Right, so that's Leonhart and Rinoa to G-Garden, Cowboy, Selphie, Quistis and Chick- Zell to Esthar, and me and Trepe to Trabia," Seifer surmised.

"Yep."

"One thing though," he said. "Do we really need four people to go to Esthar? Seems like a lot." He looked over at future-Quistis. "Why don't you come to Trabia."

"I'd rather go to Esthar," she said quietly.

The deepening tension made everyone uneasy until Zell spoke up. "I'll stay here if you like. Then Quisty can go to Esthar."

"Thanks, Zell," she said, hiding behind her fringe.

"When do we reconvene?" Irvine asked.

"Here in three days," Squall answered.

Irvine nodded. "So are we done?"

"Yes."

They all began to break up, Zell and Jenai talking in low voices about where to look, Edea leaning over to speak to Quistis about something. Squall spoke to Irvine over the noise. "Take the Ragnorok to Esthar, we can go to T-Garden via Galbadia."

"Great," Selphie said, getting up. Irvine got up after her, tipping his hat, closely followed by future-Quistis, who waved to everyone.

Seifer frowned in thought for a moment, then went after them. "Quistis."

She turned. "Seifer?"

"I want to talk to you for a minute. In private."

She nodded, swallowing. "Alright. Go on ahead, guys, I'll catch up with you," she said to Irvine and Selphie. They shrugged and moved off. She turned back to Seifer. "So what did you want?"

"Not here. Come up to the office."

She sighed, but followed him through Garden until they got to the Commanders Office. Seifer ushered her inside and shut the door. She frowned a little. "What on Gaia is the matter with you?"

Seifer crossed his arms. "Is there any particular reason you don't want to be in the same building as me, let alone the same room?" he demanded.

Quistis echoed his body language, meeting the stubbornness with her own. "I don't know what you're talking about, Seifer."

He stood in her way while she tried to leave. "Bull. What the hell have I done to piss you off?" he demanded. She remained sullenly silent, tapping her fingers on her upper arms. Seifer lost patience. "Damn it, Quistis, you told me you were married, now suddenly you don't care?!"

"We were married!" she snapped finally. "_Were_ being the operative word, Seifer!" Her face was flushed and her eyes glittering dangerously. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You want to know why I can't be around you?"

He opened his mouth, seeing where she was going with this and how much of an idiot he'd been not to see it before now. "Quistis, I-"

"You're dead!" she hissed over him. "You've been dead for two years _today_!" She turned away for a moment, her voice now shaking with suppressed emotion. "I grieve for you every day," she said quietly. "Every day."

_I'm an ass. _"Look, I understand where you're coming from, and I'm-"

"Understand?" she exclaimed. "Ha! How in the world can you possibly understand?" She spun around. "I mean, suddenly I come back and you're alive! You're just…there, being alive!" she said, her voice rising and her hands gesturing. "Do you know how hard it is knowing you exist and not beings able to _touch_ you? Damn it, I miss you with every single second, so don't fucking stand there and accuse me of not caring or hating you!" Her anger snapped suddenly, and though none of the emotion drained from her voice, its volume was lowered. "I stay away from you to protect myself. Never think it's because…I don't love you."

Without another word, she walked quickly from the office, wiping her tears away as she ran to the hanger. By the time she arrived on board, she was as composed as she normally was, if a little pale. "Everything ok?" Selphie asked cheerfully.

"Yes. Shall we go?"

A few moments later, the Ragnorok took off smoothly, heading east, and back the way it had come only a few hours before. "You know…" Irvine remarked thoughtfully, dropping his hat over his eyes, "we really should get video-conferencing. Save all this travelling."

Quistis smiled. "Not for another eighteen months yet."

**--**

**A/N: Sorry for the looooooooong wait. But HALT! A warning: I WILL hunt you down if u don't review. Somehow. Eventually. You know, I probably won't, as I'm a lazy arse. But if you were nice then u'd review anyway. ****J**


	11. What's Coming

**Chapter Eleven**

Irvine was about to throw up. He swallowed again, forcing back the nausea, hoping that the motion of the Ragnorok would even out in a minute. His prayers remained unanswered; they gave another lurch – along with his stomach. It was accompanied by a whoop from Selphie, who always seemed to enjoy trying to make her boyfriend hurl. Quistis brushed some hair from her eyes and caught Irvine's eye, then gave that sad wise smile that he'd only ever seen Edea wear. "At least she's alive," she murmured.

Irvine nodded fervently, looking back at Selphie and praying to Hyne she stayed that way. He might complain, but he'd rather stay on the verge of throwing up and trapped in this cockpit for the rest of his life if it kept her alive. Selphie banked again, and all three of them were yanked sharply to the left. Irvine turned a delicate shade of green. Quistis smiled and squeezed his shoulder. "You could always throw up in your hat."

When they finally touched down in Esthar hanger, after what seemed like an eternity later, Irvine was unsurprisingly the first one off the ship, the two women following after him. "So," he said after he'd taken a few deep breaths, "where do we start?"

"We start with Laguna," Quistis said, leading the way onto the platforms that would take them to the Presidential Palace. Irvine raised an eyebrow, fairly confident that while Laguna may have been many things in his time, librarian was not one of them. So why exactly were they going to see him? Truthfully, it wasn't that he didn't like the guy, since you'd have to be a cold hard bastard not to – or say, his son – but it was a bit difficult to be overly friendly to someone your girlfriend had a massive crush on.

As evidenced by the fact that Selphie pushed past him with an excited giggle and a hand clap. "Sir Laguna!"

Smiling to himself and thinking that he didn't really mind, since she was cute when she was excited, Irvine followed more sedately. Not that he couldn't manage excitement on his own, thank you very much. By the time they reached Laguna's office, Selphie had found another three things along the way to get excited about, one of which involved him being kissed senseless, so he felt better by the time they stepped from the platform.

Surprisingly, Quistis was the first one inside when the president's secretary told them they could go in, embracing Laguna warmly. Over the past – future – few hellish years, he'd become a father to her, especially when Cid was killed. She remembered what he'd said to her after Squall's hurried funeral. That he'd failed his son in his life, but he would never again fail Squall's brothers and sisters. He'd also been one of the last of her allies, killed in the final battle. Quistis's reaction to seeing him alive and well was the same as it had been when she saw Selphie, but this time she steeled herself and kept the tears trapped in her eyes.

Pulling back, Laguna gave a concerned frown, seeing the glimmer of moisture there. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently, recognising the slightly trembling jaw that Ellone always used to get whenever she was struggling not to cry.

Quistis shook her head and managed a smile. "Nothing. It's just…really good to see you, Laguna."

"It's good to see you two, Quistis," he smiled encouragingly. "You look like you've been in the wars since the last time I saw you," he said, motioning to the scar on her face.

She grimaced. "You could say that. It's a little…complicated."

She stood back to let Selphie and Irvine greet him too, surreptitiously wiping away the stubborn wetness. Laguna motioned for them all to sit, and folded his hands together. "Well, two visits from Garden in forty-eight hours! Either I'm very lucky or you're in some kind of trouble. Which is it?"

Quistis sighed and reached into her pocket, pulling out a scrap of paper that she'd scribbled the numbers on. "We think that somewhere in your records – or in the Esthar Public Library, or something like that – is a clue to what these numbers mean."

Laguna took the paper and unfolded it. The 43 62 88 sat on the page quiescently, silently, yet somehow managing to look menacing. When he saw what the numbers were, Laguna's eyebrows shot up. He glanced up at the three young people sat opposite him. "May I ask where you got this number?"

"It's three actually," Irvine said.

"And we got them from these," Quistis said, pulling out the two pendants she had around her neck.

At seeing these, Laguna frowned, this time in confusion. "I see…"

"Do you have any idea where they're from, Laguna?" Selphie asked.

"Well, at first I thought I did, but these discs…mean nothing to me I'm afraid."

"What did you think it was?" Quistis asked quickly. Could it really be that simple? After all this time, the key to stopping Seifer's death was just sitting on some shelf in the Esthar Library?

"When the resistance to Adel began their campaign, despite my orders, a lot of the documentation of her crimes, the names of her accomplices et cetera, were burned or lost or stolen. Any that weren't we put under a separate grouping to the rest of the government documentation. Its registration number was 43. The other two numbers also looked as though it referred to that, but I have no idea what this dragon symbol means. It is a dragon, isn't it?"

Quistis wasn't listening, instead gripping the edge of her sear so tightly that her knuckles were white. "What were the other two numbers?" she snapped.

Glancing up with a frown at her tone, Laguna nodded thoughtfully. "Well…the other two denote its level of secrecy. 62 is the number of the section of the archives the files are kept in. And 88…"

"Yes?"

"Means two things. One, the number of the file. But the only 88 I know of is a file that's 'eyes only'. Specifically _my _eyes only." He looked up, his expression apologetic. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you see it."

Three jaws dropped, and three voices began protesting in unison.

"Laguna, you can't just-"

"Please understand that we need-"

"Our only lead is in that file-"

The president held up a hand. "I really am sorry, and I know that I can trust you, but you're asking me to divulge my country's deepest secrets. That's something I just can't do."

"Laguna, millions of lives could depend on this," the blonde woman said.

"'Could' being the operative word, Quistis. I can't risk it for anything less than a definite and concrete threat. There are some procedures that even I have to follow."

Quistis ran her hands through her hair, tugging slightly at the strands and ready to tear it all out. She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking furiously. There was only one way to convince him. "Laguna, can I talk to you for a moment please? Alone?"

He nodded, and she turned to Selphie and Irvine. "Quisty-" Selphie began, but Quistis interrupted.

"Sorry, Selph, but would you mind giving us a minute? It won't take long."

"But…"

"C'mon, darlin', let's leave them to it, huh?" Irvine, said, looking at Quistis's earnest expression. Whatever it was she had to tell Laguna, she wasn't ready for them to hear it. Catching his eye, she mouthed the words 'thank you'. Irvine tipped his hat and took his girlfriend by the hand, leading her somewhat dismayed from the room.

When the door closed, Quistis stood up, suddenly seeming very tall, very sad, very wise and very, very old. The look in her eyes made Laguna want to curl into a ball and go hide somewhere safe. That cramp in his leg was starting again…

"Please, Laguna. I'm not asking for myself. Well, I am, but you can't imagine how big this is going to get. Millions of people are going to die. I don't know how it starts, and while I don't know that, I can't stop it. For heaven's sake, Laguna, your son is going to be its second casualty! My husband will be its first!" Her voice was utterly bleak as she continued. "If you don't help me, right now, I guarantee that one person will be the death of this entire world."

He frowned. "Who?"

Quistis swallowed, took a deep breath, and spoke the name.

Five minutes later, when Selphie and Irvine walked back into the room, it was as if Quistis and Laguna had swapped positions. She stood straight and tall, mouth set into a grim shape, every line of her stance hard. She looked like a general, going into a battle she knew was lost but knowing she had no choice but to fight anyway. Laguna, on the other hand, looked as though he'd aged twenty years in twenty seconds. He was slumped over as if carrying a load not meant for human shoulders, the permanent light of joy that had always lit his eyes extinguished like a candle flame.

Suddenly Irvine didn't want to know the truth.

--

_Though the concept of an 'Eden' has always existed, for millennia it was regarded as at best myth or legend. Traditionally it is believed to have been the cradle of creation for humans, a botanical and natural paradise in which the first humans were born from Hyne's magic. Later the discovery of fossils from long-extinct creatures induced questions among scientists about the origins of humanity, and brought about the concept of evolution, a theory now supported by overwhelming scientific evidence. However, despite this evidence as to how humans and other species came into being, there are no definite facts regarding magic, its origins or any exact explanations of how humans are able to wield it. Another unexplainable phenomenon is the existence of 'Guardian Forces', or GF's hereafter; sentient beings that can merge with humans and act as protection against the more extreme foes they may face, yet seem to be comprised entirely of magic. This fact in itself engenders questions of philosophy, morality and even such abstract notions as the soul, and at which point an entity, be it organic or magical in origin, develops such a commodity. _

_Digression aside, the issue of 'Eden' has since then been forgotten – until, that is, approximately sixty years ago, with the discovery from other GFs of such a being known as Eden. Eden is reportedly a GF of extreme power, capable of dealing massive damage to enemies of all variations. Naturally the location of such a GF is a secret that has been much sought after by various powers for decades, including Sorceress Adel during her reign in Esthar. Fearing the consequences of such a powerful entity falling into the hands of those who would use it for evil, a consortium of allied governments agreed that all GFs of such magnitude should be hidden in a secret location. To this day this location has remained undisclosed, and as this book went to press the scientific and historical community at large still have no idea where-_

Seifer groaned out loud and fought the urge to set the book alight. "Why can't they just _say_ they don't know where the fucking GF is at the _beginning_ of the book?!"

Quistis came out from between the stacks in Trabia Garden's library, carrying what looked like her weight in books. "What was that, Seifer?"

He sighed and ground the heels of his palms into his eyes. "As Commander can I still be punished from destroying Garden property?"

She gave him a sympathetic smile. "No luck, huh?"

He slammed the book shut and shoved it across the table. "No."

"Oh well. Next one," she said brightly. She had to be only person in the world who got _more _perky the less sleep she got. She tossed a book at him with a dazzling smile. "This one should hold something."

He opened the cover. "Quistis, it was published a hundred and fifty seven years ago. The last one was published ten years ago, and even that didn't know where the GF was."

"But it might hold some clues as to likely locations they might have hidden it."

"I bet you two hundred Gil it won't."

She looked up, challenge in her gaze. "Done."

They'd been doing this all night, since B. Garden had docked at Trabia early yesterday morning. The two of them, sitting in the library, reading book after book, tome after tome, each more useless than the last, and drinking what had to be several gallons by now of _really _bad coffee. It smelled and tasted like it had been ground from crap, and not beans (**A/N: Thank you **_**Scrubs**_). So far, they'd made six wagers, Seifer winning two, but Quistis still had the advantage over him.

On page two hundred and eight seven, Seifer struck gold. There was what looked like a diagram of Doomtrain, and a list of items needed in order to summon him. "Oh _finally_," he growled.

Quistis looked up. "You found something?"

He nodded. "Doomtrain. We need these items to summon him."

He slid the volume over to her, watching as she scanned down the page with a finger, checking and rechecking what she found. Hyne, how was it she could look attractive when she was sleep deprived and pale and with her mouth all pursed up, forehead wrinkled in thought. It wasn't fair on the male species – how were any of them supposed to get anything done when there were women like Quistis Trepe in the world?

While she was distracted, his stomach gave a huge rumbling, reminding him that the last time food had passed his lips was almost two days ago. Shit he was hungry.

"Want to go get some breakfast?"

Quistis rubbed her eyes and went to look at her watch. "I don't know, it's only…ten thirty-five." She looked up at him. "When did it get to be ten thirty-five?"

"Somewhere between the fiftieth and two hundredth books," he answered, suppressing a yawn. "Come on, Quis, we've been at this for more than thirty six hours. I'm hungry. And you know how grouchy I get when I'm hungry."

"Yes, but we haven't found more than a handful of…ooooooooh that's good…"

Seifer had moved behind her, taken her shoulders in his hands and was massaging them, working out the kinks and knots in her stressed muscles with surprisingly skilful fingers. "You were saying…?"

Quistis closed her eyes in bliss, leaning her head to one side. "Something…about…a bit lower, oh Hyne right there…"

Seifer smirked and leaned down, brushing his lips against her ear purposefully. "So…breakfast?"

She nodded, getting up reluctantly. Who'd have thought a hard wooden seat could be so comfy all of a sudden. "And then sleep. Lots and lots of sleep…"

He took her hand and shook it gently. "But not now. Don't want you falling asleep in your food. Think of what the Trepies would say."

She mumbled something about the members of her fanclub procreating with themselves and allowed him to lead her through the familiar yet different halls of Trabia. The surrounding village of Opsedia wasn't big, but it had a small café that was cosy and had a nice family air. They also, to Quistis's immense gratitude, made their own coffee. She sipped at the hot liquid and presently felt the caffeine surging through her veins. It wouldn't last long, but at least she had the energy to eat her breakfast now.

When the waitress came over for their orders, Quistis ordered a mushroom omelette and a stack of toast. "And for you, sir?"

Seifer closed the menu and looked up at her. "Three rashers of bacon, two sausages, grilled tomatoes, hash browns, beans, a fried egg and toast." At the soft 'ahem' from Quistis, he added a belated "please" on the end.

She smiled and nodded. "Shouldn't be too long, we're not too busy today," she added brightly. The restaurant was empty of all other people, and within about ten minutes the waitress came back out with Quistis's meal.

"Thank you," she said, picking up her knife and fork.

"I'll be right back with your food, sir," the waitress added to Seifer, who flashed her a lazy, sexy grin that promptly vanished when Quistis kicked him under the table. "Ow," he muttered. "The hell was that for?"

She smirked. "That grin belongs to me."

He lifted an eyebrow. "What?"

"That really-" She cut off to gawk at the sheer amount of food the poor waitress was having to carry over to their table. It hit the surface with a heavy thud, and sat there, glistening slightly with the amount of oil that had been used to cook it. Seifer dug in immediately, stuffing a forkful of bacon, egg and beans into his mouth and chewing. "Wha'?" he asked at Quistis's utterly disgusted expression.

"How have you lived this long without having a coronary?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I trena lo'."

"And in English?" she teased, taking a bite of her breakfast.

He swallowed with difficulty. "I train a lot. It helps maintain my glorious body," he winked. She rolled her eyes but passed no comment. "What did you mean, by the way?" he asked at length.

"About what?" she asked, buttering a slice of toast.

"What you were saying before the food arrived."

"Oh, that. Nothing, it doesn't matter." She smiled, having no intention of inflating his ego any further. "Eat your food."

"Yes, _Mother_."

They passed the rest of the meal companionably, talking and joking and teasing the way they had since Seifer had come back to Garden. By the time they left the café, the fatigue was creeping up again on both of them, and they stumbled back to T. Garden barely awake. The Garden was structured like Balamb, with male and female quarters on opposite sides of the building. Still holding Quistis's hand, Seifer just kept walking with the single-minded intention of finding a bed and falling into it. When he fished for his key card and jammed it into the lock, pushing the door open. _Oh thank Hyne. A bed. _

Quistis brushed past him, removing her glasses and tossing aside her hair clip before lying down on top of the covers. He stopped and raised an eyebrow. "This is my room."

"How perceptive of you," she mumbled. "Now shut up and go to sleep."

"There's a person in my bed," he pointed out, throwing his trenchcoat into a corner. _And I'm damned if I'm sleeping on the couch. _

Quistis seemed to be mostly unconscious already. "'S a double bed…"

He raised an eyebrow, not sure if that sentence had been the result of thought or sleep deprivation. Not that it really mattered, since Seifer had never been one to waste an opportunity. Moving as gently as possible, he lay next to her slumbering form and spread the blanket over them – then hesitated, not really sure if it would be appropriate to touch her- _Wait a second, since when have I been concerned with propriety? _He glanced at Quistis's face. _Man I'm spending too much time with her. _

Apparently a similar thing had occurred with Quistis, since without opening her eyes, she shifted closer and slid her arm around his waist, with somehow her legs becoming intertwined with his. She pushed her face into his neck with a sleepy little sigh, then stilled, her breathing quickly falling into a slow, deep rhythm. Deciding to ignore the fact that her warm breath against his neck was far more fucking sensual than it should have been – and damn it her hair smelled good –, he too closed his eyes, and sleep claimed him quickly.

--

A thousand miles to the south, and another two thousand to the west, while one couple was going to bed, another was leaving it.

Squall woke first, stirring and turning his face to the sunlight creeping into the room, and allowing himself a small smile. The only time he used to smile was at this time in the morning, those first few moments when the sunlight felt like someone there, someone who wouldn't burden him with their problems but could offer comfort just the same. His eyes opened, and the small smile widened, becoming something that expressed the change to now.

Rinoa, her hair covering her pillow, expression serene and fast asleep. He couldn't see her bottomless eyes, she wasn't smiling. And she still took his breath away. Now the smile in the morning sunlight wasn't his daily luxury. This was. For five minutes each day, he'd lie there and look at her. He'd never seen beauty if it didn't come from her face. He knew, dimly, that there were other women who were considered beautiful, or even stunning, but honestly, he'd never seen it. Girls like Selphie, or Quistis or Ellone almost weren't women to him – sisters or friends but not creatures of femininity and sensuality. No one in the world apart from Rinoa had that. That the only woman in the world loved him still seemed unreal.

He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and got up, walking to the bathroom. He wondered if Seifer and Quistis had had any luck in Trabia finding the locations of any GFs. So far he and Rinoa had uncovered where Jumbo Cactuar and Phoenix were – or rather how to summon Phoenix – and were planning on hunting for Cerberus today, since the three headed dog was rumoured to be somewhere within G. Garden. Doomtrain, Eden and Gilgamesh were anybody's guess. Rinsing his face with cold water and wiping it with a towel, he considered how much success Quistis and Almasy were likely to be having. Granted, Almasy had proven to be a better co-commander than Squall had anticipated, but he still had the ability to wind Quistis up like no other person on Gaia. Except recently it seemed like more than that… Squall blew out a sigh. He really hoped Seifer wasn't distracting Quistis for the wrong reasons.

A cry broke into his reflections, shooting through him like an arrow. Rinoa. Faster than anyone else could have blinked, Squall was back in the bedroom, at his Sorceress's side ready to fight whatever and whoever was threatening her. It was no physical enemy; she was locked now in a nightmare, hands fisting in the covers and her beautiful head tossing and turning while her mouth uttered more terrified cries. He felt each noise echo through his body like sword blows. Taking her hands in his, he felt her fists uncurl almost immediately. "Rinoa," he called softly, voice low and soothing. "Rinoa."

A gentle touch at her cheek, a tender stroking of her hair and soulful brown eyes opened, still filled with the inferno of fear. He took her face between his hands and spoke her name again; a command this time. She _would _wake up, she _would _break away from this fear. He wondered what it had been about this time. Ultimecia? The future? Him? Being left alone in the dark? He'd never been told what her nightmares were about – he hadn't needed to. He saw them in flashes in his own dreams, felt splinters of that fear punctuate his mind in the few calm periods it enjoyed.

Rinoa, finally focusing on him, drew in a gasping breath. "Squall!"

She flew into his arms, and he hugged her closely, running his fingers through sweat-straggled hair. "I'm here. You're safe."

She was whispering wildly, words falling over themselves to fly from her mouth. "We're not going to survive this. I saw- I saw blood in her mouth…death coming closer…black wings to sweep us all away- no way to stop it, all broken limbs and torn skin, the shadows boiling…she's coming back, she- she isn't coming back. But oh Hyne the machines…counting out your life…I can't lose you, don't leave me, Squall, please don't leave me-"

He leaned back. "Hey. Hey, I'm not going anywhere. Look at me." She did, and he kissed her. "I will never leave you, Rin. I promise."

She nodded, and kissed him again, exhaling and trying to calm her thumping heartbeat. Already the details of her dream were fading, draining away like water. Squall was here. He was safe. Anything else she could survive. She drew back slowly. "Sorry," she murmured.

"Never apologise for that," he said firmly. "Do you remember what you saw?" he asked, knowing how prophetic her dreams had been in the past.

She hesitated, but then shook her head. "No. No details, just this sense of fear…" She looked up, tears now glimmering in her eyes. "I don't think we're all going to survive what's coming."

**A/N: I'm feeling low today. No idea why. But I'm sad. So review & perk me up? Please?**


	12. Shadow Warriors

**A/N: Hey, just wanna say thank you to all my reviwers – you perked me up so much! Thank you. Merci! Danke! Gracias! Grazi! I'm out of languages! **

**Chapter Twelve**

"Quistis…"

The voice was calling her from sleep. From deep, warm, peacefully, pleasantly fuzzy sleep. She ignored it.

"Quisty…"

She frowned slightly. Matron called her Quisty. Matron wouldn't mind if she slept in a bit. Matron was never cross. Except when Seifer picked the peaches off the tree too early and gave himself tummy ache. She pushed her head deeper into her pillow. Her strangely hard, breathing pillow.

"Quis…"

The frown deepened. Quis. Only Seifer called her Quis. Seifer. The enormous breakfast. The double bed. Going to sleep in his arms. Ah. That's where she was. Ok then – safe and warm either way. And being woken up. Had she slept enough? Probably. She opened her eyes slowly, glad of the dim darkness that meant the curtains were still drawn. Warm green eyes greeted her.

"Morning," he grinned.

She smiled back, stretching her arm out slightly. "Good morning," she replied. "What time is it?"

It had to be mid to late afternoon by now, if not evening, but Seifer was too comfortable to care. Part of him was extraordinarily glad that she presented such a poised, polished, not-a-hair-out-of-place exterior to the outside world, because it made the way she looked now all the more wonderful. Hair tousled and messy, falling over her shoulders and across his chest. The razor sharp intelligence that made the blue eyes so cutting was at this moment still dimmed and muzzled by sleep. She looked so much softer. She looked more…liquid. He kissed her. "No idea," he finally answered. Kissing her had felt good, so he did it again, one hand moving into her hair and caressing her face.

Quistis smiled into the kiss. This felt odd, being kissed by a man in bed minus sex, waking up with him with clothes still in the way. It was odd. In a nice way. In a really nice way. It was so relaxed. So she relaxed in turn, and let him kiss her. She let him kiss her for about a minute, before she decided to kiss back. She was surprised at Seifer in fact, since he hadn't even tried to deepen it. _Well…looks like I'm a good influence on him…_she thought self-satisfactorily. The irony was not lost on her, a few seconds later, as the urge to put more passion into it came from somewhere primal in her. Apparently it had been an exchange of influences.

Deciding not to worry about it, she let the tip of her tongue flicker across his bottom lip and darting into his mouth. She meant to start slowly, but seemingly all she did was break the dam. A low groan, so deep she almost didn't hear it, came from his chest, and then it was his tongue tasting her mouth. She wasn't complaining.

His fingers made their way slowly down from her cheek, along her jaw line and down the column of her neck, while all the while his tongue coaxed hers into matching passion with passion. Somehow the zip of her top was being drawn down gradually, the mechanism caught between forefinger and thumb, allowing the rest of his fingers to trail along after it, leaving tingling paths that Quistis could feel even when they moved on. Finally coming to the end of the zip, Seifer's lips left hers, moving to explore the space between her ear and neck with startling force – he seemed to have abandoned completely the slow stoking of the fire between them in favour of simply pouring petrol on it. Quistis let out a low moan that sounded nothing like her, and for a moment she wondered where it had come from, but then his fingers skimmed up again, heading for a destination she didn't think even Seifer would dare to-

She let out a gasp. Apparently he would.

Palms moved oh-so-lightly over one lace-clad breast, then the other, while somehow Quistis's leg had moved so that she was straddling him, and she shuddered with mingled pleasure and anticipation as their still-clothed pelvises met and ground together lightly. Electricity jolted up and through her, and she found her back arching and her hips pressing against his harder. What on Gaia was happening to her? Why hadn't she stopped this yet? Of course, when one already hardened nipple was caught and squeezed not so gently between forefinger and thumb, she didn't really care. There was a sinfully _delicious _mouth moving swiftly down her neck and along her collarbones and further down, and sinfully _tempting _hands playing with her flesh like a child with a new toy. Her mind was screaming at her to stop, to tell him to stop, to _not _end up doing something that she'd regret later. Those few seconds felt like a knife-edge, torn between retaining rationality and plunging.

It was into that moment that the decision was taken – thankfully – out of Quistis's hands.

The phone rang.

It was Seifer's mobile, his official one as Commander, given to him in case of emergency and _never _to be turned off. Fortunately for Quistis even Seifer kept it turned on. Despite that was what she wanted to happen, the young instructor still winced at its shrill, shattering noise. She leaned up from Seifer's mouth. "Seifer…" A moan as his teeth found her earlobe.

"Ignore it," he murmured.

"I can't…"

"Sure you can."

It kept ringing, and slowly Seifer's mind was beginning to take over again. Damn that stupid promotion. And damn his conscience – why did he have to choose _now _to develop a sense of responsibility? He finally picked up.

"What?!" he snarled into the receiver.

Xu's voice answered him. And to be honest, he was never that pleased to hear from Xu anyway – now he could quite cheerfully strangle her. "Commander, we have a situation," she said crisply.

"Better be a _hell _of a situation, Xu," he spat.

Quistis, looking as though she were coming back to her wits and mortified about her state of half-undress, was coming back to her senses. Though she couldn't deny how good having his hands – and mouth – on her had felt, she knew she hadn't been ready for this yet. She had no doubt that she would be, and probably sooner rather than later, but right now she knew that if they'd continued she would have ended up regretting it in the future. She got up off the bed, zipping up her top and moving quickly toward the bathroom. She had to splash some cold water on her face and try and cool down the flaming red blush fanning across her face. Exhaling and looking at her expression in the mirror, she silently scolded herself. She was not some teenager with rampaging hormones – however rampaging Seifer's might have been. She could control this. She hoped.

By the time she came out of the bathroom, she felt much more composed. Instructor Trepe was back at the reins. She looked at Seifer, who was picking up his coat, slipping into it quickly. It looked as though he, too, had moved past their encounter, or at least now had bigger fish to fry. "C'mon, Trepe, we need to go. Right now."

She blinked. "Why? What's happened?"

He shrugged. "No idea, but Xu called. We have a situation, she didn't go into details." He opened the door, ushering her out. "Let's go."

They double-timed through Trabia Garden, then after a second urgent phonecall from Xu, ran the two hundred yards to B. Garden. As soon as they ran through the turnstiles, the door-guard rang up. A few seconds later, Garden's engines revved and they began to take off. When they arrived on the bridge, Xu launched immediately into the explanation that the expression on Seifer's face demanded.

"We've had a distress signal come in from Galbadia, Commander."

"When?" Seifer demanded.

"Five minutes ago, we're heading there now as fast as we can."

"Good." He turned to Quistis. "Gather two squads, meet by the entrance, get out there as soon as you can." She ran out, and Seifer switched his attention to Nida. "Reduce power from the shields, feed it into the engines, it'll get us there faster. Be ready to divert power back again though as quick as you can once we arrive."

"Yes, sir."

Seifer crossed to the microphone connected to the tanoy that went throughout Garden. "Attention all personnel, this is Commander Almasy. All instructors, classes are suspended for the rest of the day, make sure cadets return at once to their rooms and remain in them. All SeeD personnel, assemble in the cafeteria and standby for further orders." He switched off the P. A. and turned to Xu. "How long until we get there?"

"At this present velocity, another seventeen minutes."

"Nida, make it faster," Seifer ordered, leaving the bridge. Left behind, Nida and Xu exchanged a look, eyebrows raised, both thinking the same thing. _Who'd have thought? Seifer Almasy, a competent commander. _

--

_Earlier that morning in Esthar..._

Selphie knocked on the door in front of her, and tugged her boyfriend's sleeve, urging him forward too. "Come _on_, Irvy, hurry _up_."

Irvine rubbed his eyes again. "Remind me why we're doing this at three am?" he asked.

Quistis opened the door of her room, already sheathing Hyperion. "To avoid being seen," she answered calmly.

Selphie clapped her hands together. Quietly. "Oh, it's so exciting! We're like real-life SeeDs!"

They both stopped and looked at her. "Selph, we _are _real-life SeeDs."

She made a dismissive noise. "I know that, but still."

Quistis shot a puzzled look at Irvine, who responded with a half-shrug. He loved her, but he was damned if he knew even half the things that went on inside Selphie's head. The blonde didn't smile, far too tense for that, and instead took point, leading the three of them down the hallway. As SeeDs they were quiet anyway, and the listener would have to have the hearing of a bat to detect them passing – but Quistis moved _silently. _No sound whatsoever – there was no evidence she was even breathing. An ability born from the fact that if _she _had heard her, she'd be dead. It was an ability that if this didn't work, Selphie would develop too. Irvine…Irvine would be dead before he needed to learn.

They were creeping through the Esthar Presidential Palace, heading down to the kitchens, where they would be meeting Laguna, who would take them to the government archives. It had to be done in the dead of night, under complete secrecy, or the fact that Laguna would be impeached was a certainty. Privately, Quistis didn't give a damn if he lost his job or not – as long as she saw what was in those files first.

They crept into the kitchen to see Laguna already there, beckoning them from the back. Quistis inwardly cursed Laguna's complete lack of tactical skills. By Hyne, Raine Leonhart must have had a brilliant military mind, since Squall definitely hadn't got his abilities as Commander from his father's side. The kitchen was vast, and empty, and echoed ridiculously, even noiseless footsteps audible from the tiled floor. They may as well have yelled to the entire palace that they were taking a quick rifle through the government's secret files. She shook her head. _He's wonderful in so many ways, but the man is not smart. _

Laguna looked as though he was having a wonderful time – and thankfully, had brought Kiros and Ward along too. "You made it!" the excited president whispered. "Come on!" It seemed he'd forgotten about his dismay and apprehension of that afternoon. Well, maybe he was reminded of the good old days.

All six of them – not a terribly discreet number, as Kiros pointed out – began to walk through the kitchens until they came to the back entrance, where a transport was waiting for them. Piling into it, it was a ten minute trip to the archives – also using the back entrance, since the front entrance was enormous and also under twenty-four hour guard. Not that the back entrance wasn't, but the backdoor guards were more inclined to accept bribes.

With bribing the door guards and the archivists Laguna had managed to buy them forty five minutes of time inside the archives. Even so, that didn't include going into the restricted section, so they all acted as lookouts as they crept through. Selphie almost let the door to the section slam before Irvine threw his hat into the gap, stopping it closing. By the time he got it back, there was a fairly severe dent in it. Selphie gave a sheepish grin. "Uh, oopsie?"

Irvine glowered and tired to force the material back into shape. "I swear, Sefie, if I didn't love you so much…"

She grinned and kissed him. He still looked slightly disgruntled though, and carried on following Laguna without comment. When the six of them arrived in front of the right section. At the steel reinforced door with its palm reader and retina scanner, Laguna stopped. "Sorry, guys, but this is where Quistis and I go in alone. It's not worth the four of you being arrested for."

Selphie nodded miserably. "Ok…"

"Radio if someone's coming," Laguna said.

Quistis and the president moved forward through the door after Laguna had preformed the security checks, the steel shutting neatly into its frame. Immediately, Ward sighed and shook his head in a resigned way. Kiros turned to Irvine and Selphie. "Tell me this wasn't Laguna's idea. Because if it was, we're screwed."

"Uh, Laguna?" Quistis asked inside the room.

"Hmmm?"

She pointed at the signs that showed very clearly where they'd find file number 88. The small placard on the back of the door was quite clear. _File numbers 001 – 100 Left. 101 – 212 Right._ "That way."

"I knew that…heh heh…just testing…"

Quistis rolled her eyes and followed him – or more accurately led the way to the correct filing cabinet. Unlike the vast cavernous rooms of the rest of the archives, this room was only about twenty feet wide and long – still plenty of room to store over a hundred filing cabinets, each one six drawers deep. She found the right one and pulled out the drawer, then scanned through the stacks of paper in it. Laguna hovered anxiously. "You know, this really isn't what I had in mind, Quistis…"

She slammed the drawer shut, the file now in her hand. "What did you have in mind, Laguna?" she demanded. "After what I told you this afternoon, did you really think I'd be ok with you just _reading _it to me?"

In all the time that Quistis Trepe had lived and worked and taught, there had only been two people in the entire _world _who hadn't dissolved into gibbering wrecks under that look. And unfortunately for Laguna, his name wasn't Squall Leonhart or Seifer Almasy. He nodded weakly. "Alright…"

Quistis nodded and opened the file.

_**Top-leave security clearance. For the eyes of the head of state only.**_

Bypassing this, Quistis skimmed down, eyes rapidly devouring every word on the page.

_During the reign of the Sorceress Adel, the organisation then known as Section Six, and thereafter Odine Labs, undertook several projects and experiments that, after the overthrowing of Sorceress Adel, were deemed both illegal and immoral. Accordingly, by decree of President Laguna Loire, these operations were halted immediately, but were deemed too sensitive to national security for the details to be released. The seven projects undertaken by Section Six and subsequently disbanded were recorded in detail and placed within this file. They are to be examined only under circumstances of national emergency. _

Quistis eagerly bypassed this and flicked through the paper clipped documents. "Well?" Laguna asked.

"Wait," she snapped.

All of them were written by Dr Odine, but there was nothing in any of the first four sets that looked at all familiar to her, but on the fifth set…

"…_some cases the subjects were likened to shades and became known amongst my staff somewhat fancifully as 'shadow warriors'," _she said, reading aloud. "_Ignoring this whimsical and romanticised view, the products of this experiment were extremely adaptive to their purpose – that is to say we had created soldiers of the finest calibre, susceptible only to the highest level magics and, it would appear, the powers of Sorceresses. Bullets and other physical attacks had no effect whatsoever. _

_In accordance to Sorceress Adel's instructions, thirty five soldiers were modified and drafted into the Shadow Unit, as they became known, and placed directly under Sorceress Adel's command as her personal bodyguards." _

"'Bodyguards'?!" Laguna interrupted. "We never had to fight anything like that!"

"No, that's because…listen to this," she replied, skipping down.

"_However, after less than six months in service to the Sorceress, the members of the Shadow Unit – despite our best efforts to the contrary – began to display traits of free will. Sorceress Adel refused to allow her servants to have any ideas that ran less than parallel to her own, and ordered the extermination of the Unit. Again, the army was unable to follow her instructions due to the nature of Shadow Unit's matter – the conventional weapons of the soldiers had no effect, as they were designed not to. It was only after personally executing six military officials for reporting this, Sorceress Adel launched a personal campaign to wipe out the remaining members of the Shadow Unit, deeming them too big a threat to her rule." _

"Boy, we could have used these guys in the revolution," Laguna put in.

"Laguna, would you please be quiet?!" the blonde woman snapped. "I need to think… It says they were destroyed…but if that's the case then who were the guys we killed…?" She frowned and continued reading.

"_The Sorceress's powers – as already stated – did prove effective against the members of the Shadow Unit, and Adel was able to destroy at least twenty of the original thirty five soldiers created, if not all. However, it was at this point in time that the now President Loire's revolutionary force began their actions and Sorceress Adel was forced to suspend her action against the Shadow Unit. Since after President Loire took power in Esthar there was no mention of any remaining members of the Shadow Unit still being active, it has been assumed that Sorceress Adel was successful in her attempts to destroy them. However-"_

Here Quistis's voice broke off, her face like thunder as she went to turn the page.

"However?!" Laguna demanded.

"I…I don't know, that's where it cuts off! There are at least three pages missing here!"

"That's not possible! No one else has access to these files!" he replied.

"Well evidently someone does!" she cried, frantically flipping through the rest of the pages. On the last one there were a few words. It couldn't be anything remotely helpful.

"_...Shadow Council have sworn that no Sorceress should ever again use them for her own purposes. However, due to the lack of evidence that the Shadow Council exist, this claim was swiftly dismissed. The issue of the Shadow Unit and its creation and actions thereafter is over, have now been confined to the pages of this file." _

**(A/N: I may have nicked the name 'Shadow Council' from somewhere, but I'm damned if I know where, so sorry to whomever I've stolen it from, and please don't sue me.)**

"That's it?" Laguna asked, sounding disbelieving.

Quistis nodded, not listening, re-reading one sentence. "'…sworn that no Sorceress should ever again use them for her own purposes…" she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "Oh my Hyne. This is it." She looked at Laguna, her hands suddenly trembling and the hot salty drops falling from her eyes. "Laguna," she said, gripping his forearms. "This is it! After all this time, all this _time_!" With no more warning, she bust into sobs.

Laguna looked completely taken aback at the sudden outpouring of emotion, but patted Quistis on the head awkwardly. "Uh, there there."

"I'm sorry!" she choked out. "I don't normally- I wouldn't- it's just that I've been looking for a way to- for so _long_, and I-"

He rubbed her back comfortingly. "I know, I know. You don't have to explain." He understood – if anyone could comprehend what it was like to lose your soulmate then he did. And if there'd been a way to bring Raine back then he would have moved heaven and earth to do it. Quistis hadn't moved heaven and earth…instead she'd crossed hell and ripped open time to save Seifer. Laguna wondered if the commander was aware of just how deeply this young woman's pain ran.

Eventually she drew back and wiped her eyes, cursing herself for that weakness. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare be. You have nothing to apologise for, Quistis," he said. "But you can fix it. That's what you're here for, remember that." He took her face between his hands. "This is not going to happen to you again, you understand me?"

She nodded. "But it _did _happen, Laguna. He's dead. He's dead, and all I can hope for is to stop it happening to her. Part of me doesn't want to, Laguna. It'll be like giving him to another woman. I don't know how I can bear it."

"You can bear it," he said, "because he'll be alive. You can bear it because even if you never see him again, even if he's loving someone else, even if his children will never be yours – you bear it because he's _alive. _Because if you love him, any price is worth that. I'd pay that price gladly if I could. Would you?"

She swallowed and nodded slowly. "Yes," she murmured. "I'll pay it." She cleared her throat, her voice getting stronger. "I'll pay it."

He gave an encouraging smile and wiped her cheeks dry of any remaining tears. "Atta girl. Now come on. We need to get out of here."

--

Squall was panicked. Panic wasn't an emotion he experienced often – as a SeeD he kept a cool head at all times, and while at first the responsibility of being Commander had made him uneasy, he'd gotten used to it, and could deal with whatever came at him. No, this panic was the type of utterly helpless kind, the kind when he couldn't do anymore to resolve the situation than he was already doing, and that might not be good enough. This panic he hadn't experienced since the war – and he wasn't panicked as a man, or a SeeD, or a commander.

He was panicked as a Knight.

Up till this point his day had been pretty good; they'd found Cerberus lurking in a hidden passageway, and been able to defeat the GF without too big a problem. After the battle, Rinoa had junctioned the three-headed dog, then had a sudden brainwave about the possible location of Gilgamesh, and gone haring off to the library, saying she'd be back in ten minutes. It had been five minutes after that that all this mess had started.

It had worried him when Seifer and Quistis had told them about the attack on Balamb, but though it hadn't boded well for the future, the attack hadn't been too hard to repel, and Seifer had been pretty much able to repel it without a problem. Now, however, it appeared as though their suspicions about it being a practice run were confirmed. Just not on Balamb Garden. On Galbadia Garden.

He cursed under his breath and slashed down with Lionheart in a swift counterattack against the Behemoth currently trying to eat him. According to Almasy, the attacks on B. Garden were by low-level, easy to repel monsters. The ones currently launching an assault on Galbadia were anything but. He hadn't faced anything like this in years, not since the sorceress war, and at least then he knew what they were fighting. Ultimecia might have been a difficult and deadly foe, but she had an identity.

The Behemoth keeled over, dead, and Squall straightened up, slightly breathless. He was being flanked by two instructors of the faculty – and that was the reason for his panic. Rinoa wasn't by his side. Rinoa was at the other end of this Hyne-forsaken building, and there were about a million monsters between him and her. Every fibre in him was screaming at how _not right _that was. He was her Knight, he was _supposed _to be with her and he _wasn't_, and it was killing him. Whoever it was that had attacked Garden was going to pay if she got hurt.

The entire structure suddenly shuddered and the lights flickered, then went out. Red emergency lighting flared on about two seconds later, but it did not help Squall's mood. He'd never liked Galbadia Garden at the best of times; looking like the walls were drenched in blood (and some of them were) was never a good thing.

The instructor next to him – Sora, was her name? – wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Damn, what the hell's going on here?"

"No idea. But-"

Squall wasn't listening to his two companions; he was already running off to where he knew Rinoa was. The two instructors cursed and sprinted after him, only for all three of them to skid to a halt when the patchy shadows in the hallway began _moving_. "What the hell?!"

The young commander shook his head. He'd been warned against these things too, and thankfully had stocked himself with enough Firagas to burn the continent of Centra. "Fire spells only. Holy if you have them, nothing else will work," he snapped out as four soldiers formed from the darkness.

"This will," the his other, male, ally snarled. He pissed Squall off – it was like working with Seifer before the war. Squall was keeping a close watch on this guy in future. He raised his gun and fired three shots into the nearest one. And succeeded in creating three new holes in the wall. Squall's icy glare, and the hissing laughter of the Shadows said more than words could.

One of the Shadows lifted its gun and fired; the male SeeD flew backward, bullets lodging in his chest and creating a spray of visceral fluid that fanned out across the corridor. He finally hit the ground, clearly dead.

Squall wasted no time grieving. He lifted his arm and cast the black magic, momentarily wishing that either Quistis was with him – her abilities were second only to Rinoa's, and no doubt she' d be able to dispatch them a lot faster than he could. Still, the magic was effective enough, and the black-clad things dissolved into what looked like wisps of smoke; their machine guns clattering to the floor. Again, Squall was a blur running down the corridor before the others could catch their breath.

It took them more than forty minutes to move along the half-mile breath of G. Garden, and by the time Squall finally got Rinoa in his sights, he was about ready to forget about fucking around with gunblades and just tear the next monster to attack limb from limb. It happened to be three T-Rexaurs; wild ones and so far more dangerous than the ones bred for the training centre. The creatures were immediately followed up by another half a dozen Shadows – and the Firagas had stopped working, as he had feared they would. Learning and adapting denoted extreme intelligence, but coupled with the fact that they were obviously magical and apparently impervious to normal harm…_shit. _

And he might have been imagining it, but virtually all the Shadows seemed to aiming at him…personally.

When the Firagas had stopped working, he'd had to switch the Flare spells, and he'd run out of those. "Uh, any ideas, sir?" Sora asked nervously.

"You cannot defeat the Shadow Unit," the thing hissed. "We are infinite. You sssssshall never win!"

Squall said nothing, only cast a desperate look at Rinoa, who'd just vanquished a monster of her own, knowing that she'd hear what he wasn't saying. He watched her head jerk back to look at them, her eyes widen in alarm – that was all he saw, because at that moment she cast the biggest and brightest Flare he'd ever seen, and white blocked out his vision. When it cleared, it was to see the woman he loved with a relieved smile on her face, and no Shadows in front of him.

Relief changed instantaneously to alarm when there was movement behind Rinoa. "Rinoa!" Without warning, and with lightning speed, a Shadow reared up and slammed the butt of his gun into the back of her head; she crumpled to the ground immediately.

"_Rinoa!_"

--

When Quistis got into the pilot's seat of the Ragnorok, and turned on the GPS navigation, it was to find with surprise that Garden wasn't at Trabia. It was in Galbadia. "Huh. They must have finished early." Shrugging, and dismissing it, she set course for Galbadia.

By the time they were half an hours' flight from both Gardens, the smoke was visible like a great grey snake, worming its way across the sky. Quistis felt that same horrible lurch in her stomach, then all the thoughts that came tumbling after it. What if Garden was already destroyed? What if her friends were already dead? What if Seifer was lying in some corner, his face ghost-pale and his precious blood already seeping across the cold floor- She inhaled sharply and shook herself mentally. He was alive. It hadn't happened again. It hadn't. She would know if something had happened to him. She would know without needing to be told. She ignored the little voice in the back of her mind that whispered…_you didn't know the first time… _

Quistis met herself in the docking bay. "What the hell happened?!" her future-self demanded.

"Galbadia was attacked while Seifer and I were in Trabia-"

"Is he alright?" At her question, Selphie and Irvine both shot her odd looks, but focused on attention on Quistis.

She nodded. "He's fine. The attack was like the one of Balamb a couple of days ago – only the monsters used were much higher level, and there were those Shadow things that you were talking about, Selph-"

The three of them exchanged glances. "Yeah, we learnt more about them. We'll explain later though; was anyone hurt?"

"Four SeeDs were killed, another twelve students and cadets seriously injured, over twenty minor ones, and Rinoa-"

"Is Rin ok?" Selphie interjected.

"Unconscious, but she's fine. Squall's going out of his mind though, as you can imagine-"

"Maybe you should take us there," Irvine said. "We think we've got something he should hear."

Future-Quistis shot him a reproachful look – she was in no hurry to divulge all her secrets just yet, and telling them about the Shadow Unit could lead to just that. "Let's go," she said heavily after a while.

Quistis led the way back into the Infirmary – B. Garden's, since G. Garden's was full – still filling them in. "Seifer's still in G. Garden organising help for the rest of the injured and assessing the damage. It's going to run into the millions to fix it all, and Hyne knows how much more we've got coming."

By the time they got into the infirmary, Quistis had talked herself hoarse answering all the questions that they had. She led them into Exam 7, bypassing Dr Kadowaki, who was too busy to point out that having more than two visitors in the room at any one time was against Garden regulations. Inside, Rinoa was lying on the bed with her face the same colour as the sheets, a heartbeat monitor on and an IV in her arm, but nothing more serious than that. Squall was sitting next to her, one gloved hand holding her limp one, covering his face with the other.

"How is she?" Selphie asked.

"Unconscious," he answered quietly. "The doctor says she's fine, but she won't wake up for another hour or two."

"Are you ok, man?" Irvine asked.

Squall nodded, then exhaled. "It should have been me."

"What do you mean?" Selphie asked.

"I know it seems weird, but I swear all those…those Shadow things? They were all after me, I swear they were. They were trying to kill me."

"They weren't after you," a voice said quietly. "They were after Rinoa."

Squall turned with fire in his steel blue eyes. The brunt of his glare was aimed at future-Quistis, who gazed back at him, looking only a little ashamed of herself. He barely ground the words out. "Explain everything. Now."

**A/N: Due unfortunately to an EXTREME excess of sugar I'm hyper, so I will be bouncing around until I get reveiws. So if you don't want me to bounce too high and get wedged in the ceiling, PLEASE review!! As an example of my hyperness I've been re-named - the all-powerful, all-knowing Queen of Pink-fluffy-bubbydom! Sorry, I'm hyper. Ignore me. EXCEPT for the reviewing part!  
**


	13. How Many Would It Take?

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter: Cramer, uniFsky, Ms Starlight, Tequila Princess, Nasuki, JJ Gestapo, Tiy and Stwu. I cannot tell you how much it means to me that you like my writing. **

**Also someone mentioned imagining the Shadow Warriors as sounding like Ringwraiths from LOTR – which is exactly how I did too, so now u all know how to imagine them! But now I believe I owe you good people some answers, don't I?**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Future-Quistis looked down and sighed, then nodded. "Alright. But I'm only explaining to you and Quistis."

"I don't think you're in any position to be making demands," Squall growled.

Future-Quistis crossed her arms and lifted her chin, blue eyes narrowed. "You want to know everything, then fine, but I'm only telling you and Quistis!"

Everyone went silent as the battle of wills between she and Squall went for a few moments. Again, Quistis was made uncomfortably aware of the differences between her now, and who she would become. She'd never be able to hold out against Squall's anger before, and she couldn't help putting another blond in future-Quistis's place. In fact she could see more than a little of Seifer there, and she smiled inwardly. Perhaps that was a part of the future she could live with.

Finally Squall nodded. "Fine. But you had better explain _everything._"

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"Very well. Exam 3 should be empty." They didn't question why they couldn't talk there, though Quistis frowned in curiosity. Rinoa was unconscious, after all. When they got into the empty room, Squall turned to the black-clad woman expectantly. "Start from the beginning. And I want the full story."

She folded her arms around her stomach, as if trying to hold onto something no longer there. She began hesitantly. "There are things I didn't know before I came here. I had no idea that the Shadow Unit were involved, or that they even existed."

"Then who did you think were killing us all?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Well, we never discovered who was responsible for you and Seifer." She took a deep breath. "Seifer and I are – _were _– married. I was pregnant. Which is why I have Hyperion and this," she said, pulling out the necklace.

Squall started in surprise and looked at Quistis. "Did you know about this?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"And has it started already?" he sputtered.

Both women glared at him. "If you must know, yes it has. Can we move on now?" she asked coldly.

He nodded dumbly, and future-Quistis took another deep breath. "Seifer hated all the paperwork and stuff that came with the Commander's job. So if a mission came up that he liked the look of, he went on it himself. In that case, there were some disturbances in some ancient ruins in Trabia, and a local village hired SeeD to investigate. Seifer volunteered." Tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes now, and she tried hard to keep them from her voice. "It was supposed to be a normal, routine mission that lasted no more than a couple of weeks. And then he'd come home. And he never did." One scalding tear was let go. "After a month with no contact with Garden, Squall, you went after him."

"Why would I go after him? Why not send a retrieval squad?"

"Figured that if whatever it was was strong enough to get rid of Seifer then only you would stand a chance of finding him. Plus…" she gave a wistful smile. "As unbelievable as you might find this, you were almost as worried about him as I was. Anyway, after you left, you disappeared as well." A brief spasm crossed her mouth. "Rinoa was beside herself."

She paused, swallowing. "You weren't gone as long as Seifer was, Squall. But when you got back…Lionheart was gone. All you were carrying was Hyperion, and you were badly wounded. Bleeding internally. The doctor said it was a miracle you could walk, let alone make it back to Garden. You were only conscious long enough to say that Seifer was dead. Three days later you followed him." She paused. "And Rinoa lost her mind."

"Lost her mind?!" they both echoed.

Future-Quistis nodded. "Yes. She lost consciousness, fell into a coma just like she did in the war. Except-"

"Wait," Quistis said. "So what you told me- about losing your baby-"

"It was true. But I'm coming to that. When Rinoa woke up, it was like she was being possessed all over again. Except she wasn't. You know better than anyone what the bond between Sorceress and Knight is like, Squall. What would happen if it were suddenly severed."

"Exactly what happened to Ultimecia," Quistis whispered, tears now evident in her own eyes.

"Yes," her other self murmured back. "And Rinoa started on her own massacre. She blamed Dr. Kadowaki for not being able to save you, Squall. So she killed-"

"No!" Squall interjected. "You don't know what you're talking about! The Rinoa I know would never-"

"She isn't the Rinoa you know!" future-Quistis shot back. "And besides-"

"No! You're lying!" Squall shouted.

Future-Quistis slapped him, hard enough to leave a livid mark. "I'm lying?!" she demanded. She lifted her shirt up to bear the great purple mass of scar tissue on her abdomen. "I was _six months pregnant, _Squall. And when I tried to stop her, Rinoa took a sharp pointy object, and put it straight through me. It went _directly _through my womb. And it killed my unborn child. The _only_ thing I had left of Seifer!" She lowered the waistband of her trousers a little to show another, paler scar stretched across her abdomen. "This is from the emergency C-Section that Selphie had to perform to- to get the body out." Tears of pain and anger and sadness were streaming down her cheeks now, but the rage still hadn't burned out. "So don't stand there, and tell me that I'm lying! You have no idea what I've lost, and you have no idea of what she is capable of!"

Inwardly, Quistis was reeling. Bad enough to lose her husband and a man she considered her brother, but to have her child murdered by one of her best friends? _I don't have the strength surely. I don't have it in me to do that. Any of it. _Her future self looked at her, somehow seeing what was going on in her mind. Slowly, she nodded.

There was a timid knock on the door, followed by Selphie's voice. "Um, are you guys ok? We heard shouting."

"We're fine!" both Quistis's called back.

"Ok!"

Squall rubbed his scarlet cheek and sat down again gingerly. "I'm sorry."

"You weren't to know, Squall," she said. "But you wanted to know the truth. And there it is. I'm only sorry it's so bleak."

He sighed. "Carry on. Finish it."

"It was decided early on that Matron would have to be entombed in the Sorceress Memorial in order to protect her from Rinoa while we tried to stop her. We made a stand – several stands – in Timber, then Galbadia, Balamb, Centra. Nothing we did seemed to impact her at all – she holds so much more strength than even Ultimecia did. There just weren't enough of us. The only thing that changed was that in each battle we lost another ally. I think…I understand how she felt, a little bit. When Seifer died, I _hated_ everyone I saw. Everyone who was walking and talking and doing the things that he never would again. There were times when I would have slaughtered the entire world if it could have brought him back. Except I didn't lose my mind. And even if I had, I don't have the strength to actually do it. Rinoa does."

"So this Shadow Unit…what are they hoping to achieve? Surely they don't want the entire world destroyed. That would apply to them as well," Quistis pointed out.

Future-Quistis nodded. "My guess is that they thought they could control Rinoa. That they could…I don't know, somehow _benefit _from her powers once they'd been unleashed."

"It's not all that surprising," Squall said. "There were people who profited from Adel's rule in Esthar…And I'm sure had Ultimecia triumphed at least some people would have gotten something from it. Seifer for one," he added somewhat bitterly. His words were met by a silence that was colder than a glacier, followed by glares that could have killed from both women. He sighed and put his hands up. "Ok, ok, I take that back."

"Good," both of them snapped.

"Anyway, the documents that I saw in Esthar said that they were created by Adel and under her direct command – until she decided to destroy them. My guess is targeting Rinoa was their idea of revenge. But like I said, we had no idea they were involved. Me coming back must have charged something, because it's forced them to reveal themselves. But it doesn't mean they still don't want Rinoa."

"Well obviously it backfired in the future," Quistis said. She paused, a question occurring to her. "Why not just kill Squall though? Why did they need to kill Seifer too?"

"I can only assume because of what happened with Ultimecia. If there were six of us then there's a chance we could stop her. They didn't want to risk a replacement Squall, I suppose. You know as well as I do that Seifer may as well be you when it comes to battles."

"That's true. You're both unbeatable."

"Almost," future-Quistis said sadly.

The two women looked at each other, now totally ignoring Squall. "How many of them…" Quistis breathed.

"…would it take?" the other answered. She shook her head. "I've imagined it so many times…each time it's worse than the last."

Quistis's eyes closed along with her other self. "Seifer, in the rain…soaked to the bone, and cold, and tired…"

"…night…there are shadows everywhere, and each one of them moves, writhing in the half light…"

Quistis opened her eyes, the colour of the ocean now, and about to fall. "…and he's scared," she whispered, "…and not showing it. Hyperion in his hand, and he's untouchable…"

"Then they come." At the whispered sentence, the tears from both women began to fall. "At first it's no contest – he's magnificent; he always was. But after he kills the first batch, and the second, more come…"

"So he fights. He keeps fighting, because he doesn't know how to stop, he doesn't know how to lose."

"And still they come." Future-Quistis's voice deepened now, her tone sombre and final.

Trembling, she got up and slipped out of the room, pushing past the others who were still waiting outside to break into a run. "Quistis?" asked Xu as she sprinted past. The blonde paid her no heed. She kept running, her heels clacking on the marble floor, until she came to the ball room; it was empty, and locked, but one whispered spell opened it. She ran careering into the balcony railing, her momentum almost carrying her over the edge. The tears came thick and fast as she looked up at the sky. Night was falling – the first star was out. Her eyes shut again, and she let loose one sob.

--

"_Are you sure you don't mind me going?" _

_She smiled at her husband. "I'm sure. Besides," she said, smoothing down his collar, "you're driving me crazy with your whining that you never get to go anywhere." _

_Seifer didn't smile. "I know, and I do want to go, but I also don't want to leave you." His hands stroked over the hard curve of her rounded abdomen. "Or this one." _

_Quistis put her hand under his chin and lifted his gaze back to hers. "Seifer, I'm not due for another three months. There's no way you'll be gone that long. And the sooner you leave, the sooner you'll be back."_

_He mock-pouted. "Aren't you going to miss me at all?" _

_She grinned, pulling him down and kissing him with as much fervour as she could muster. When she broke away, they were both breathing hard. "Not even a little bit."_

_He returned her smile and knelt down, kissing her pregnant belly. "I love you." He stood, and kissed his wife again, softly this time. "I love you too." _

_Quistis smiled. "And we both love you. Now get out of here, you big lout." _

_He swung Hyperion over his shoulder, and walked out of their apartment. It was the last she could sleep in peace. The last time she was happy. The last time she ever saw him. _

--

She collapsed to her knees. "I'm tired, baby, I'm so tired," she whispered to the encroaching night.

She was tired with running. Tired with fighting. Tired with grieving. Tired with being in constant pain. Tired with being alone. _Can I just give up? _she wondered, not for the first time. _Would it be so bad if I did? If I just stopped running? _She looked at the balcony again; if she threw herself off it headfirst, her neck would snap when she hit the ground. Instant, painless death. She'd wished for it so many times in the past. Never been granted it. Known each time she did, she was committing betrayal of the worst kind. Stopping now would mean betraying all the people that had died for her. All the people that had believed in what she was trying to do. It would mean betraying Seifer, and Squall, and Matron, and all her friends. It would mean betraying Rinoa.

But still, it was so hard. She had nothing. If she won she'd still have nothing – but she'd make sure that everyone else had something. _As soon as it's done, _she thought, _I'm taking Hyperion, and I'm granting myself release. _She looked up. "Do you hear me, Seifer?" she whispered. "When this is done, I'm coming home."

Reality came crashing in; that time was so far away still. Who knew how long this would take? Who knew she'd even succeed? Before she could stop them, the tears came. She was still there, silently sobbing, ten minutes later when Xu found her. Unsure of what to say to this woman who effectively was her friend, Xu realised she didn't need to say anything. She knelt down and gathered future-Quistis into her arms.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry," she was whispering, over and over again.

Xu got the feeling it wasn't her she was apologising to.

--

When her future self ran from the room, Quistis wasn't far behind her. For a few moments, she couldn't do anything except tremble. She had no idea what had just happened, but while they were talking Quistis had seen – and felt – everything that they were describing. The rain on his face. The beginnings of a cold fear at the base of his spine. Hyperion singing as it sliced through air and shadow-flesh. The heavy weight of resignation settling on his shoulders when he must have known it was over. The bright defiance of knowing he would fight to the death. Had his last thought been of her? Their child?

One tear slipped down her face, frighteningly cold.

"Quistis?" Squall's questioning tone roused her from her melancholy trance.

She looked up. "Did you get your answers?" she asked bitterly. Without waiting for his answer, she stood and brushed down her clothes, then opened the door. The others all crowded around her, their voices mingling into a dozen questions all at once. To Quistis's ears, they sounded like twittering birds, their speech just as high-pitched, and just as meaningless. There was only one voice she wanted to hear, and it was missing. She had to find it.

"I'm sorry, but I promised I wouldn't say anything," she said seriously. "I'd suggest you don't either. She's been through enough."

That shut them up.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm tired. I'm going to lie down."

She walked out of the infirmary calmly – and tried to stay that way. She failed. Her hands were still trembling wildly, and by the time she got to the elevator, it was as though she'd been running for half an hour; her chest heaving and her heart pounding. As the doors pinged open, Nida stood there, about to come out. He was holding a large stack of paper, and didn't look happy about it. "Hey, Quistis," he greeted glumly.

"Hey, Nida," she said absently. "Do you know if Commander Almasy is back from G. Garden yet?"

"Yeah, he's in his office. Gave me about a million things to photocopy, though."

Quistis wasn't listening, the doors already closing on her. When the doors opened again, it was to see the Commanders' office door open, and Seifer putting his coat up on a hook on the wall. She didn't pause, instead running toward him. Hearing footsteps, he turned, and she ran into his arms.

"Oooph! Quistis? What the-" He cut off, feeling how badly she was shaking. He frowned in concern and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked gently.

She shook her head and stayed silent for several minutes, just holding him until the shaking had passed. Finally she drew back and kissed him fiercely. Eventually, when she drew back, Seifer was even more bewildered. "What's going on?" he asked.

She shook her head. "I got some answers. And they were terrible." She shook her head and put her forehead against his jaw. "I needed you. I _need _you."

"Hey," he said, lifting her chin and placing a soft kiss on her lips. "You have me. I'm here."

"No," she said. "I need you. I need to _feel_ you."

He frowned, catching her meaning. "You sure you're ready?"

"Yes," she said instantly, without hesitation. She hadn't been before, but now… "I'm ready."

Seeing only sincerity in her eyes, he nodded, and took her face between his hands, kissing her again. Not caring that the door was open, Quistis put her arms around his shoulders and met his slow-burning passion with her own, deepening the kiss slowly. After a few minutes she pulled away, taking his hand. "Come on."

She led him through the hallways – mostly deserted, since most people were resting in their dorms – until she came to her own room. Unlocking the door, she walked inside, still holding Seifer's hand. The door closed quietly after them, and the room became a secluded haven, cut off from the rest of the world. A place they could express what was slowly building between them.

**A/N: YOU HAVE YOUR ANSWERS! Review & let me know if it was still too cryptic. But I hope you won't just stop reading now, since I'm going to save the lemon for next time ;)**


	14. Stealing My Fun

**A/N: Sorry this took me so long – but I'm on holiday. I'm writing this in an apartment in Sevilla, España as we speak (it's a beautiful city btw, if you ever have the chance to come) and having a ball. Anyhoo, here's the chapter. It is basically one big lemon, but its the pillow talk you wanna pay attention to ;)**

**Enjoy! **

**Chapter Fourteen**

Once alone, Quistis wrapped her arms around Seifer's neck and pulled him down for a deep kiss, taking the aggressive stance for once. As she slipped her tongue into his mouth, she pressed her body the full length of his. Soft curves met hard angular ones, and Seifer quickly met passion with passion, his hands settling on her hips and pulling her even closer. He let himself get lost in her taste and scent for a while; she hadn't showered since Garden had been attacked, and neither had he. As a consequence she still tasted like the espresso she'd downed just to keep herself awake, and smelled slightly like gunpowder and the disinfectant of the Infirmary. It was a surprisingly heady mix, especially coming from Quistis.

As she inhaled the warm and pleasantly _male _scent coming from him – mostly musk and sweat, which _shouldn't _have been arousing, but bloody was – Quistis realised that she probably smelled too, and she was certain it wasn't in the same way he did. Not wanting to break the mood, she tried to think silently while still kissing him. Hard when Seifer's hands moved up her back to remove the clip from her hair. Throwing it across the room (and not really caring where it landed), he buried his fingers into the strands of gold, loving how silky it felt when it flowed over her shoulders. He slowed down a little, still tasting and exploring her mouth, but now doing it with much more gentleness, his touch going from crushing to lighter than a breeze.

She felt beautiful under his hands, now no longer faced with searing passion, but instead the prospect of actually making love to him. It was not at all how she'd thought their first time would be; with their argumentative, fiery relationship up to this point, she'd just assumed it would be hard and furious – up against a wall perhaps. Not that she would have been totally adverse to that. But this was what she wanted _now_. She needed warmth, and the comfort of having his naked skin next to hers. But mostly…she needed a shower.

Stifling a giggle, she broke away from Seifer's lips to explore that delicious corner where his neck and shoulder met, grazing her mouth over the skin there, occasionally nipping with her teeth and revelling in the low grumble in his chest. His coat was still in the office, which she didn't mind, since his arms were on show, but she ran her hands up under his vest, grinning at the twitches of muscle beneath her palms. With a quick tug, the piece of clothing was pulled over his head and let fall to the floor. His trousers swiftly followed, and Quistis backed off slightly with a coquettish smile that was most unlike her to let him kick his boots off while she did the same. Though, much to his annoyance, _she_ was still fully clothed.

However, when she reached up to draw down the zip of her top, Seifer's hands covered hers. "Now, now, Instructor, don't go trying to steal my fun."

She raised an eyebrow and bit her bottom lip. "_Your _fun?"

He nodded. "Oh yeah. I've been nursing a lot of fantasies about undressing my pretty instructor," he grinned.

"I'm not your instructor anymore," she reminded him softly, her voice coming out more breathy than she meant it to, since it was her turn to have her neck searched and teased.

"Again with the ruining of fantasies," he replied, teeth biting her ear lobe softly while he drew the zip of her top down, then pulled it off completely. There was no more real exploration of his body or hers until they were both bare-skinned, and then Quistis took his hand and led him toward the small bathroom.

Somewhere in between Quistis sucking on a spot just under his ear, and Seifer kissing her so thoroughly that she forgot her name again, the shower got turned on, and they both stumbled into the shower cubicle, Seifer's back hitting the tiles first, then Quistis hitting him under the spray. Steam rose as their fervour did, the mint-scented bodywash not helping as it left swathes of tingling across already sensitised flesh. Quistis went first, taking the sponge in hand and lathering his torso, letting the fingers of one hand toy with his nipples while the other helped the dirt fall of his skin and down the drain. She wasn't moving hurriedly; determined to take this moment out of the real world to learn and map every plane of muscle and sinew that twitched slightly under her touch. Wide blue eyes never left hooded green as she went by contact alone – down the abs to his hips, then, ignoring his still-urgent arousal and drawing a growl of frustration from his lips, along strongly muscled thighs. For her own pleasure, she reached one hand around his back as she descended, coming to rest on that deliciously firm ass that she'd admired even as his instructor. Squeezing gently, she glanced up to give him a wicked smile. Satisfied that he was clean, she stood again, leaning up to kiss him.

Seifer willingly obliged, more than happy to taste her wet, lusciously-pink mouth again and feel her tongue join his in the dance. Eyes closing, she let one hand travel back down again, her moist fingers wrapping around his smooth length and moving up and down firmly, once, twice, three times before Seifer gave up being gentle, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer roughly with a groan of pleasure. He was rewarded with an answering moan from the instructor as painfully aware nipples crushed against the hard wall of his chest, his hardness seeming to brand her lower abdomen with its heat. "Not that I wouldn't _love _to see how dirty you can get," he growled in her ear, "But you're still the wrong kind of unclean."

She shivered with delight at the contrasts that raced over her skin – the coolness of the mint, the heat of him. The smoothness of the lather, the rough texture of his hands – and the way they both slid down her body, hitting all the right spots with the perfect mix of pinching, squeezing, massaging and stroking to make Quistis arch her back against his hands. He gave the same treatment to her hair with gentle fingers kneading her scalp before he moved his hands to her waist, dropping alternate bites and kisses along her shoulders. "You're clean."

She turned in his embrace and wound her around his neck, kissing him again; with no less passion, but slower. Eventually she reached out a hand and blindly pushed the water off, then took Seifer's hand and let him out of the bathroom, forgoing towels. When they got to the bed, she turned them, putting Seifer's back against it. Kissing him again, she pushed gently on his chest. Taking the hint, he sat on the edge of the bed, then lay back, half-propped on pillows, looking up at this goddess with the most incredible bedroom eyes he'd ever seen. Quistis smiled slyly at the look on his face, then moved. She straddled him, one leg on either side of him and her hips against his. She leaned down and caught his mouth again. He kissed her slowly, playing with her tongue, massaging it with his.

She broke away and just looked, memorising every part of his face for a moment. He reached out a hand and stroked the side of her face, doing the same. She leaned forward again and kissed every part of his face; his forehead, eyes, cheeks and his lips, wanting to get him as close as possible. He sat up, and her hands reached out and ran across his shoulders and down his back, pressing his chest to hers. His hands snaked around Quistis's waist and his lips found her neck again. Her smooth legs went around him and she felt his muscles tighten in response to being next to hers. Seifer slid his hands up her back, taking her weight and tilting her backward to bend his head and skim her breasts with his lips, massaging her nipples and tracing their curves with his fingers. She arched her back and moaned in appreciation for what his mouth was doing.

After a few moments of tortuous pleasure, she lifted his head and brushed his lips with the tips of her fingers, then brought her mouth to his, feeling the stiff bulge of his arousal press against the wet heat of her sex. She took him into her slowly, determined to engrain this moment into her memory forever. He seemed to catch her mood, and began measured, sensual thrusts, prolonging the joyful feeling running through them both, pushing her higher into a state of euphoria. She rocked up and down slowly, letting out gentle moans that increased in tone and volume, gradually building up her speed as the intensity spread throughout their interlocked bodies. She was filled with sublime joy, and the movements he made sent jolts electric pleasure to her very core. He raised her face to his again from where it had been buried in his shoulder and held it with one hand, keeping their eyes locked together until she had no choice but to close them in the heat of desire. They came together, moaning with passion into each others' mouths. She bit softly at his lips to stop her voice echoing down the entire corridor, and he responded, pressing her lips to his as the shocks of pleasure subsided a little, leaving only their still-joined, shaking bodies behind.

Rubbing her and down her back slowly, Seifer leaned back, bringing Quistis with him and keeping her close. Both were tired, but neither wanted to sleep right away, instead choosing the relaxation that came with being in the arms of a lover.

It was a while before an actual thought crossed his mind. "Not that I'm complaining…"

Quistis shifted against him slightly, in a vain effort to get more comfortable than she already was. "But…"

"What brought this on?" he asked.

There was a pause before she answered, and glancing at her face, he saw it was creased with a frown. Finally she answered, not wanting to but knowing he had a right to know. "Squall demanded some answers from the other me. About…what happens. And she said you…"

He squeezed her closer. "You already knew what happens to me-"

"_Might _happen," she interrupted, determination on every line of her face. "I'll be damned if you're getting rid of me that easily."

He grinned and ran a finger down her back, and then over the curve of her rear to the back of her thigh. Just because he could. "Well, I suppose it could be worse." Sobering, he frowned again. "Alright, so you still knew what _might _happen to me. And we didn't end up here then."

Quistis swallowed, looking very nervous. It chilled him to the bone. "RinoaisthethreatfromthefuturebecauseafteryouSqualldiesandshegoesmad," she blurted.

It took him about five seconds to work out what she'd said, and then his mouth fell open. "She- she goes _mad_?!"

She nodded. "Yes. Apparently, Squall dies a few weeks after you. Rinoa loses her mind and…kills everyone," she said bleakly. She decided to leave out the part about their unborn child. It was the part she found worst anyway. She'd never considered the idea of herself as a mother. But imagining being given that chance with someone she loved only to have it snatched away forever? It was horrific.

"Hyne." He paused for a moment. "Why would Rinoa go mad? Evidently you lose me and don't go around murdering people."

"Well…" she shrugged. "It's just like what happened to Ultimecia, I suppose."

Her voice had a tinge of sympathy that he didn't understand. "She was evil, Quistis," he said flatly, his voice cold. "Trust me, I'd know."

She frowned. "But…I thought…you really don't know?"

"Know what?" he almost snapped.

"She went mad…because her Knight died. It's why she wanted to initiate Time Compression. It's why…she went after you," she answered, a brief frown crossing her face, unconsciously tightening her hold on him slightly. "It's what happens to Sorceresses," she continued. "When they lose their Knights."

He digested this in silence for a while. A long while. So long that Quistis would have thought he'd fallen asleep were it not for the fact that he was still blinking. "Seifer?"

He sighed, then let out a bitter snort of laughter. "I- She-" He drew in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut, determined to _finally _get this out. "Her mind was blood and tears," he said in a low, clear voice. "War and…grief at causing it. Singing with the melody set to screams. It was like…being wrapped in cotton wool laced with barbed wire. And the way she looked at _me_…"

Quistis, wanting to listen to this but not happy about the idea of him belonging to someone else – particularly not a Sorceress, after what she'd just heard – frowned and reminded herself that he was in her bed now, and if things went the way they were supposed to, would one day be hers completely.

"It actually explains a lot," he said. "Torture one minute, then the next telling me she was sorry and that she'd protect me from anything. Everything was extremes," he whispered, voice hoarse with suppressed horror. "Madness…" He nodded. "Yeah. 'Mad' doesn't even begin to cover it."

"Except Rinoa won't compress time to achieve it. She'll just slaughter everyone in this one."

He nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "So how do we stop it?"

"Obviously we find this 'Shadow Council' and stop it then."

"And…where do we find them?"

Her shoulders slumped slightly. "I have no idea. The only thing we can do is-"

"If you say 'research in the library', I'm strangling you now," he said, in a vague attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

Quistis caught on what he was trying to do, but decided to play along anyway. Dwelling on the darkness of the future would do neither of them any good. "Well, we can always try the taking-Garden-around-every-continent-in-Gaia trick and see how long that takes."

He groaned. "Can you just let me win? Just once?"

"Now you're ruining _my _fantasies." She paused. "Though my fantasies don't normally include sleeping on damp sheets." They hadn't bothered with towels once they were out of the shower, and the bedclothes were now moist with both water and sweat.

"Well you know the solution to that, don't you?" he asked with a lecherous smirk. Or tried to be lecherous.

He really was too cute to come off as overly-lecherous she thought. Not that she'd be telling him that. "What?" Though judging by that look in his eyes, she knew exactly what.

"Make more heat," he murmured, dropping kisses along her neck.

---

Rinoa came to slowly, muttering slightly as she regained consciousness. Squall, who still hadn't moved, put a hand under her head. "Easy."

"Squall?" she whispered.

"I'm here."

She squinted against the bright lights in the Infirmary, but made out the concerned features of her boyfriend. "Are you alright?" she asked.

One corner of his mouth twitched. She always asked about him first. "I'm fine." It was a lie – he was far from fine, and had spent the last four hours agonising over whether or not to tell her the truth. He still hadn't made up his mind. She had a right to know, but Hyne knew she suffered enough with seeing splinters of the future without knowing she'd be responsible for wiping out the world. That was a burden no one should have to bear, least of all Rinoa. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just got hit by a train," she croaked.

"Try a Shadow Warrior," he replied, helping her to sit up and then lean back against the pillow.

"A what?" she asked.

"Explain later. I'll get the doctor." Dropping a kiss on her cheek, he left the room to find Dr Kadowaki. By the time he got back – doctor in tow – he'd decided on what he would tell Rinoa. After Dr Kadowaki had done a quick assessment, she left again, and he spoke. "Future-Quistis managed to get the information from Laguna we needed. The numbers refer to something called the 'Shadow Unit'. They were Sorceress Adel's personal guard, but she turned on them and ordered them killed. They're virtually impossible to kill, and some evidently survived, and swore vengeance. It's they who are responsible for what happens in the future."

She nodded, took a sip of the water he passed her, then frowned. "Wait…Adel is dead. What do they want now?"

He swallowed. What he told her couldn't be a lie, since because of their bond she'd detect it immediately, and demand a straight answer. But over the past few years he'd gotten good at editing the truth. "They want you. They've sworn all Sorceresses are a threat to them, and…"

"They want to kill me," Rinoa said flatly. It wouldn't be the first time she'd encountered people who hated her simply because of what she was, and it wouldn't be the last. It was the only time that the threat had seemed real.

Squall said nothing to negate her conclusion, and only took her hand. "I won't let that happen, Rin, I swear to you."

She smiled and brushed her fingers over the rings at her neck. "I know." She sighed. "So what now?"

"Obviously, we kill the Shadow Unit. Apparently they're under the control of the Shadow Council. We have to find them."

"More library stuff then huh? Oh yay."

---

While Squall, Rinoa, Quistis and Seifer were talking about going to the library again, there was only one person actually there. One reading lamp on. One table occupied. One blonde, heartbroken, world-weary woman, sitting at the desk, and poring over books.

Alone.

---

**A/N: Sorry to end on a depressing note, but I liked the contrast between the two of them. It's amazing the difference one person can make, innit?**

**Review por favor y hasta luego!**


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